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Grey's Anatomy: Notes from the Nurse's Station

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A sexy, high-concept, behind-the-scenes peek at the lives and loves of Seattle Grace's most popular doctors . . . On ABC's mega-hit Grey's Anatomy , when surgical interns Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, George, and Alex (not to mention neurosurgeon Derek, aka Dr. McDreamy) arent putting in long hours at Seattle Grace Hospital, theyre flirting, gossiping, and drowning their sorrows at the Emerald City Bar. In one location, Nurse Debbie sees it all; in the other, Joe the bartender hears it all . . . Grey's Anatomy is styled as two books in one -- read from one side to get Debbie's hospital scuttlebutt, and from the other for Joe's alcohol-fueled tidbits. Notes from the Nurse's Station and Overheard at the Emerald City Bar are packed with new information on pivotal events. This is the book the show's millions of fans cant wait to read.

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1999

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844 people want to read

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Chris Van Dusen

3 books4 followers

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5 stars
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79 (19%)
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118 (28%)
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52 (12%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
Profile Image for karen.
4,012 reviews172k followers
January 17, 2021
fulfilling my 2020 goal to read (at least) one book each month that was given to me as a present that i haven't yet gotten around to reading because i am an ungrateful dick.

okay, i almost can't believe i'm about to spend time reviewing this book with the same sincere and thoughtful consideration as i give any other book because



but i am what i am, so here i go, giving this trashy media tie-in book my undivided attention and whatever critical faculties i got left after months of isolation, smashing you sweet pearls with my swine.



PERSONAL BACKSTORY: i only started watching grey's anatomy a couple of years ago, when i was prowling netflix looking for something to background binge while i did other stuff. i'd never been drawn to it before, because i'd already watched ER and thought surely that was the definitive medical drama, but—since i'd already vacationed in shondaland with Scandal AND How to Get Away with Murder, i figured why not see what all the fuss was about, suspend my disbelief that the dude from Can't Buy Me Love was believable as a sex symbol, and maybe get to see some cool-gross medical mishaps.



here's the thing about grey's anatomy—it is not a fantastic show, but it is powerfully addictive. i know this because i binged the 14 network-length seasons available on netflix at the time in well under a month. sean of the house made fun of me for watching it, caught a couple of episodes, and then he began watching it on his own, starting at the beginning and actually getting ahead of me at one point. greg ALSO made fun of me for watching it, before giving in and he not only burned through all the episodes available on netflix (15 seasons by that point), but he began having dreams about the show every single night and feeling bereft when he ran out of episodes.



season 16 just dropped on netflix, and he's so relieved.

it gets its hooks in you, even though there's so much about it that's an eyeroller's paradise. it's teevee popcorn, and while it's not as satisfying now as it was when it was fresh and hot (to me), there's something comforting about it even when it's stale and terrible.



so. greg got me this book for my birthday.

it takes place during seasons 1-2 of grey's anatomy, but reading it feels more like the experience of watching the past 4-or-so seasons: it's not great but you do it anyway.



it's two books in one—the events of the first season told from the POVs of joe the bartender



and nurse debbie



who—we are to believe—spend their downtime blogging gossipy tidbits about the staff of seattle grace hospital AND gossiping with each other in daily IM sessions about the very same topic.

both joe and nurse debbie get their own half of the book (in a read-half, flip-upside-down, read-other-character's-half format), and each half alternates between their respective blog posts and joint IM convos, mostly just regurgitating the highlights of the season's goings-on, but fleshing it out a little. a very little. if you're reading this book to discover seeeeecrets and easter eggs and deleted scenes, like the mystery of cristina's missing shoe



it's not gonna give you much of that.

it's fluff, but it's not painful to read, despite some things that bugged me because i don't know how to turn off the part of me that thinks even junk food books should be given a cursory edit before sending it off into the world (although i see now that this is a FIRST EDITION—thanks, greg!—and maybe any errors were corrected in subsequent printings, of which i am sure there were MANY because who wouldn't want this book?)



because although i appreciate the editorial challenges of structuring a book like this, (tho' probably not as challenging as editing the new kimmy schmidt interactive movie, which you should go watch now because connor is in it!), there are some continuity issues and timeline gaffes. there are occasions where someone will mention something in the blog part (say, debbie talking about meredith and mcdreamy co-owning a dog) and then seven pages (and four blog posts) later in her IM-with-joe part, debbie becomes outraged that he kept from her this oh-so-juicy gossip about meredith and mcdreamy co-owning a dog.



debbie will casually refer to what happens to men when they explode as "pink-mystifying." which, while the callousness and neologizing are on brand for the show, i do not think it would be spelled with a y.



there are sentences like this, in one of joe's MANY blog posts about karev:

Thanks to him, the entire hospital now knows exactly what's underneath Izzie's pretty blue scrubs.

someone needs to come along with a 10 blade and remove that malignant modifier! izzie may be pretty



what's underneath her blue scrubs may be pretty



but the scrubs themselves?



eh, not my type



oh, those aren't big deals, you say? i am a nitpicking grammar monster who doesn't even know how to use capital letters, you say? what about the fact that dr. derek "mcdreamy" shepherd is referred to, MORE THAN ONCE as "mcsteamy."



I KNOW, RIGHT?

those of us infected by grey's anatomy know there is a mcdreamy



and there is a mcsteamy



and you do NOT mix them up. although, and i'm just realizing this now, this was written in 2006, and i'm not a big enough grey's geek to remember the first instance of sloan being referred to as "mcsteamy," but considering he is only in one episode in seasons 1-2 (which i just googled, that wasn't bone-deep grey's knowledge), and even though he IS in this book, it is likely this book predates that appellation and maybe the show grabbed it from the book?, and i don't know what to do with this knowledge, because it sure as shit won't impress anyone at a cocktail party. not that cocktail parties will ever exist again in this covid-riddled world of ours.



WHICH GREY'S ANATOMIST WILL SAVE US FROM THE 'RONA??



last complaint: one of the more annoying trademarks of grey's is the pitterpatter nonsense cadence of roughly 70% of the characters' speech patterns, part of which is driven by the need to give everyone from co-workers to love interests to patients some sort of cutesy nickname: evil spawn, mcWORDOFYOURCHOICE, really old guy, heart in the elevator guy, cardio god, the plastics posse, etc etc.



oh! which phenomenon is apparently something the internet-gang has been memeing for the entire run of the show and i am too late to this fandom to have noticed, but here, internet supplies a multitude of grids showcasing an assortment of primary and secondary nicknames, so here are a couple:



all of which i am posting for the excuse of posting THIS ONE which cracked me up because burke:



hahaha no nickname for you, mcboring!



i will say that one of the only good things on this past season was koracick referring to owen as "strawberry shortcake," which caused me to guffaw and the last time i laughed during a grey's episode was at this:



BUT, while it is an across-the-board trend, (and the shoulders-back, chin-up rapid-fire speechifying is a shondaland tee em) the cutesy repetitive nicknamey cadence isn't something i remember joe ever doing on the show. he was the calm and reason in the storm



but his voice in this book is grating and sounds much more like a breathless izzy-george word-dump, punctuated ONE MILLION TIMES with grey's most overused word.



seriously.

for example, here is joe's blog account of meeting a new patron, who he immediately nicknames Crazy Psycho Dude. for those of you watching along, this meeting would have taken place in season 2, at the very end of ep. 25 (17 Seconds), while the character would actually appear in ep. 26 (Deterioration of the Fight or Flight Response).

It was then when I let my imagination run wild. I'm telling you, all I could think about was the idea that this guy could very well be the kind of guy who keeps women in a man-made well in his basement and says things like, "It rubs the lotion on its skin before it gets the hose again." Seriously? Seriously.

The possibility that Psycho Crazy Dude could actually be psycho and crazy began to dawn on me. Now, I knew I had been lucky enough to survive a standstill operation. But what if I didn't have any luck left? What if I ended up in the well? What if I ended up having to rub lotion on my skin? What if it was me, Joe the Bartender, about to get the hose again?


elephant in the room, YES, joe is misquoting the silence of the lambs and we are all deeply disappoint. but we are also deeply skeptical that joe would say any of that, or much of the other stuff attributed to him in this book.



i have spent so much time reviewing this book and i'm sure no one's even reading to this point oh my god my decisions are BAD.



anyway, to say some nice things about the book, i love that joe's section includes recipes for character-specific cocktails, like Meredith's One-Night Stand and Bloodhound Yang.



i also love that bokhee gets a mention in here (even though they misspell her name as "boki"); a character often-addressed, rarely-seen-sans-mask, my personal posterchild for our times.



in conclusion:



come to my blog!
Profile Image for Elena Kravchenko .
25 reviews2 followers
December 24, 2016
The book consists of two parts and each one tells the same story, but from a different perspective. They are written blog-style. I would say it tells nothing earth-shattering but actually quite worth reading.
Profile Image for Zabeth.
10 reviews1 follower
September 24, 2007
What can i say, I'm a huge fan of the series! There's nothing so great about the book, but Nurse Debbie and Joe the bartender can give you some nice laughs, so it's ok to spend some time with them. One word>>>>McDreamy...
Profile Image for Brittany.
192 reviews9 followers
November 17, 2019
A lovely complement to seasons 1 & 2 of the tv series “Grey’s Anatomy”. Do not read this book unless you’ve watched the tv show as it won’t make a lot of sense to you.
I adored this book but wanted just a little bit more (never learnt anything really new and was hoping for bigger revealed secrets). I recommend to all true Greys diehards.
Profile Image for Joana.
911 reviews23 followers
May 19, 2018
Third time reading this book and this time it was a completely different read. I picked it up again because I finally watched those two first seasons of the show (the ones this book cover), and it's definitely not as good as I used to think...
The writing is pretty corny, full of stereotypes and these ridiculous lines, and it times so petty and so full of slut shaming, which makes sense since this was still produced in the beginning of the 2000's. And now it's so interesting to see how far they've come to where they are now (the ones still alive) and it also made me realize how much I miss having Joe around
But this book wins a lot of points on the nostalgia factor - this one was the first presents I bought my parents and one of my favorite books when I was younger. And it was still definitely enjoyable and fun - entertaining for sure!!
It's 5 stars for what it means to me and then 3 stars for actual quality - 4 stars is the perfect compromise :)
281 reviews
June 13, 2012
I love this show and the book did not disappoint.. it takes you through the first 2 seasons which is really cool.. one half is Joe's point of view and the other is Nurse Debbie.. very cool approach.
Profile Image for Laura Tárraga.
Author 30 books258 followers
June 13, 2016
No aporta información nueva y la manera en la que está narrado me parece de lo más cutre.
Me ha decepcionado con creces.
Profile Image for Zoe Walters.
10 reviews
September 6, 2017
Grey's Anatomy directed by Shonda Rhimes
Grey’s Anatomy is by far my favorite show. Although you might get mad at the director, Shonda Rhimes, you will still be very intrigued. She makes you feel all sorts of emotions. You get too attached to a character, and then they pass away, or they leave the show. The main character, is Dr. Meredith Grey.
The first season starts with all of the new med students who just graduated. Over the next 13 seasons, it will take you through their internship, 5 years of residency, and what they specialize in after that. Meredith's mom was one of the best general surgeons, so she has big shoes to fill. During the internship Meredith becomes friends with the other 4 interns that also go assigned to work with Dr. Miranda Bailey. They are George, Izzie, Alex, and her best friend Christina. The tough part for Meredith is that she is in love with her boss/superior, Dr. Derek Shepherd. They fell in love, even when they knew they shouldn’t.
Meredith has close relationships and struggles with opening up to people. She is a very complex and interesting character that I think many people would enjoy watching. I would recommend this book to anyone into drama, romance, and the medical field. I learned so many medical thinsg from this show. You don’t pick up everything, but you will remember a lot of the basic skills to help other people/yourself, even if you aren’t a doctor.

Profile Image for Julia Zonca.
17 reviews
September 6, 2017
Grey’s Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy is a thrilling series on Lifetime that is also featured on Netflix. It also takes you through her experience at Seattle Grace Mercy West for 13 seasons. It follows Meredith Grey all through internship to her becoming a successful surgeon.
The show begins on Meredith's first day of internship, and you follow her all the way until she becomes a successful general surgeon. Along the way, she meets lifelong friends like Alex, Christina, and her husband Derrick. Every episode features new cases, like trauma, cancer patients, or plastic surgery clients. Some of my favorite episodes are the season changers, because they last 2 episodes and something big always happens in them.
Grey's Anatomy is a great show for anyone that has ever had an interest in the medical field. People with soft stomachs should not watch this show because there are gory scenes that they would not enjoy. This show is is much like private practice, which is a spinoff of Grey's Anatomy. The show involves charters that are well-developed and fascinating. Overall, the show involves a theme that keeps young minds interested about learning more about doctors and their line of work.
1 review
December 10, 2020
I am a big fan of Grey's anatomy. I've watched all of the seasons on Netflix. In my language arts class we have to read books to go on our grade. I decided to pick something i'm interested in so i can read it easily. I picked this book! In the book Meredith Grey is the daughter of a famous surgeon that is now going to a internship to become a surgeon. But right by the hospital (Seattle Grace Hospital) there is an Emerald city bar. Jo is the bar tender who works there and meets all the doctors when they come after there shifts. The doctors mainly call it Joe's bar. He gets to be good friends with them and hears all there crazy stories and writes them down in a blog diary which you as a reader are reading.

I liked in this book how funny Joe's is. Its fun to see the way he slowly meets all of them. At first he may not like someone then he grows to like them.

I would have suggested having the doctors and interns talk more instead of Joe telling it. This book has a part 2 that is of Joe's best friend a nurse at the hospital that tells the same story but from her point of view. I really enjoyed reading this book! If you are a Grey's anatomy fan this is a must read.
Profile Image for Devin Ho.
3 reviews
November 3, 2025
This book goes into depth about the relationships early on (Seasons 1 and slightly 2) of the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy”. I love that it references real scenes from the show itself and not just some fan-fiction about the show. It was written from the perspective of a nurse on the show whom is best friends with everybody’s local bartender, Joe. The book is mixed with her blog and her IM correspondence with Joe. She talks about the hot-gossip at fictional Seattle Grace Hospital and all the news that’s going on there. If you love Grey’s Anatomy, I would recommend this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
9 reviews
April 6, 2018
This novel explains what it's like to be a surgeon. The book starts with interns, who are the main characters. These characters eventually go on to be residents, and then attendings. It follows each and every doctors life very closely. Their love life, family, friends, and job 24/7. Neuro, Cardio-Thorasic, Pediatics, OBGYN, etc.... take a step into a surgeons shoes.
Profile Image for Dee.
40 reviews
December 31, 2019
I read this silly little book because it was a Christmas gift from someone I love.
It's pretty terrible, but I really shouldn't criticize. It is exactly what it advertises itself to be, nothing more.
All in all, a retelling of the first two seasons of the show from Joe the bartender's point of view and Debbie the nurse's point of view.
Profile Image for Michelle.
697 reviews21 followers
December 6, 2024
A quick, fun media tie-in following the first 2 seasons of Grey's Anatomy that is perfect for any fan of the show!

Told in blog and instant messages, these two stories are from the perspectives of side characters which was cute but didn't add too much to the overall storyline. It was a great reminder to readers of everything that occurred in the early days of the show and absolutely made me want to go rewatch!
Profile Image for Heather McC.
1,070 reviews7 followers
January 15, 2018
Fluffy, with a little substance here and there, there's nothing overly memorable about the book to warrant a second read, or a strong recommendation. If I were to recommend this book to someone, it would be to a die-hard 'Grey's fan; all others may not be able to get through it.
Profile Image for Areej Imad Mohamed .
8 reviews1 follower
February 24, 2019
The most good book for all the people in the medical staff and it's have a very nice photo the make the description easy to under stand it's really great to the gross anatomy , and ot have some clinical cases .
It's really nice , it's help me a lot .
Profile Image for Sabrina.
574 reviews9 followers
October 21, 2025
Fun little fanfic of Gray's Anatomy show that covers the stuff in the first two seasons. Half of the book is from the head nurses perspective and the other half is from Joe the bartender's perspective. Been a while since I watched the show so was fun to recap
Profile Image for Heather Churchey.
100 reviews3 followers
February 5, 2021
Really just okay. Half of the book is told by Joe the bartender and the other half is told by nurse Debbie. Joe’s side was definitely better but all in all just a really okay book.
50 reviews
June 10, 2021
J'ai vraiment bien aimé l'histoire mais j'ai trouvé que la partie 2 était répétitive car on revivait histoire d'un autres point vue. Mais sinon j'ai vraiment bien aimé
Profile Image for Kristin.
1,024 reviews9 followers
June 19, 2012
This is a two part book in which each part tells the same story, but from a different perspective. The story being told is the first, and possibly second, seasons of the show Grey's Anatomy through the eyes of 2 minor characters; Joe, the bartender at the bar just outside of Seattle Grace Hospital, and Debbie, a long-time nurse at the hospital. While Joe plays a large role in one of the early episodes of the show, I'm not sure if Nurse Debbie is ever mentioned by name or if she's just one of the many nurses who work in the background as the doctors are featured. Both parts of the book are written blog-style, with instant message conversations between the two characters interspersed among the blogs.
I read Nurse Debbie's part first, not knowing what to expect but figuring I was more interested in a nurse's perspective than the bartender's. That said, I don't think it matters which one you start with, as the same major events (New interns beginning, Joe's brain aneurysm, Izzy falling for Denny and cutting his LVAD wires, the bomb in the hospital) are covered in both, and then each story adds minor gossipy details unique to the perspective of the one telling it. Nurse Debbie notes who is fighting with each other or wooing each other, and some of the more interesting patients she sees, while Joe tells of who comes into the bar and gets drunk vs. who just comes to talk. Overall, I liked Debbie's side better because again, she is in the hospital while Joe is at a bar, but I thought the author's idea of having the two characters be secret allies who trade gossip back and forth to link the 2 perspectives was smart.
The book tells nothing earth-shattering about the show, and the author may not even have a connection to it, but I found it as a good way to remember the early seasons.
591 reviews1 follower
December 20, 2014
This doesn't quite work, the main problem is that it feels less like an actual blog or conversations with people and more like a listing of the events of the first two seasons. Both of the characters supposedly writing this seem obsessed solely with the characters on the show rather than any of the many other doctors, nurses, interns and other staff of the hospital, and even with that caveat it still requires you to have a memory of everything that happened in order to follow the plotlines of this novel.
If you are a fan of the show it is worth reading just to remind yourself of how it all started, if you are looking to see if you would like the series, then actually watch the show this will just leave you confused.
Profile Image for Tatiana.
14 reviews31 followers
September 20, 2020
2,5 estrelas
O livro está dividido em 2 partes, na primeira parte Joe, que tem um bar, conta as histórias do hospital e dos médicos do hospital do seu ponto de vista. Mantém conversas via messenger com a enfermeira Debbie que é quem conta as mesmas histórias mas da sua perspetiva na segunda parte.
É um pouco aborrecido para quem vê a série mas não a vive intensamente. É bom para recapitular as 2 primeiras temporadas para quem já as viu há imenso tempo.
Estava à espera de pormenores extra série, behind da scenes, mas raramente existiram basicamente colocaram os pontos fortes das 2 primeiras temporadas mas pouco desenvolvido.
Profile Image for Maud.
771 reviews190 followers
April 4, 2012
I have watched a couple of episodes of Grey's but by far not all of them. Yet you don't need to have to watch them all to understand this story though it is easier when you know most of the main characters. One part is about one of the nurses who works at the same hospital and who writes a blog about everything that happens at work, quit interesting and fun to read but nothing special. The other part is from the bartender who of course hears his own share of stories from his guests at the bar, also interesting but nothing special. Overall this book is okay but not a real must read for me.
Profile Image for Amy Cannon.
31 reviews1 follower
June 9, 2014
This was an OK book. Some parts were good and I wouldn't say any were great. I am a fan of the show but this was mostly just a recap of every episode without as many details. I was hoping for fun extra behind the scenes stuff that would add to the storyline that we already knew from the show. There were a couple fun parts that added extra (my favorite was the prom stories... I felt the author did a good job capturing the main characters voices) but besides those few parts, I didn't think the rest was much worth reading.
Profile Image for Patricia.
70 reviews2 followers
September 15, 2009
2.5 stars. I liked reading it, but I did not overly enjoy it or anything. The books runs trough season 1 & 2 per episode and tell you what Joe or Debby think of it. Nice read for true fans, but I gotta say, a little boring.
Profile Image for Christina.
42 reviews4 followers
August 29, 2010
i got into Grey's Anatomy in its second season after i had watched 1st season on dvd. this was a good for me when it read as a catch up and a review to the series so far. if you're a long time fan it's a bit of a bore to read
Profile Image for Shoshana.
638 reviews22 followers
Read
December 13, 2016
This was essentially the first season of the TV show re-written in a manner that wasn't able to convey the same emotion and interest level as the show. Overall this was a good idea and great for people who love the TV show and want to enjoy a different perspective.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews

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