White Coat Diaries is a good book about which I have some mixed feelings. As readers share the experience of a medical intern, we get a taste of the challenges of being low person on the totem pole professionally as well as the rewards and challenges that come with treating patients. While I enjoyed the medical aspects, the naïveté of the narrator made me uncomfortable. While, quite probably unrealistic on my part, I get emotionally squirmy when a character I want to like and identify with keeps making mistakes and/or bad decisions. People do make poor choices and there’s nothing wrong with including them in a novel.
The subplot involving Norah’s family and their Indian community was also a little uncomfortable to read.—my failing, not the author’s. There is the usual tension between the expectations of immigrant parents and the lives of their American-born offspring. It is very real, but hard to read about.
As the book develops, we see how Norah works through personal and professional situations, figuring out her place in her world and what constitutes the kind of success she can live with.

I really liked this book. It was not a predictable romance novel and gave an interesting look into the mind of a young female doctor. Family, work, and relationship dynamics all play a role.

Norah Kapadia has wanted to be a doctor and follow in her father's footsteps since she was a young child. Finally she is about to start her residency at the hospital of her dreams. What follows is clear description of the strenuous schedules kept by interns and the unrealistic expectations put on them by their superiors. A fascinating and eye opening story.

It's definitely an eye-opening look at the life of an idealistic young doctor, just as she begins her residency at a prestigious hospital. We first meet Norah who's having a tough time transitioning into her new role and her chief resident Ethan, whom she obviously falls for despite him not being interested. It reads quickly with engaging language, and does remind me of "Grey's Anatomy," but I like that it is more about her career than just romance and finding a man. It's the story of her residency, friendships, and family. Norah is definitely idealistic which I'd rather see her more realistic and wanting to do this job well and not fawn all over a man. It's engaging and I couldn't put it down though. The ending did feel out of character for her, and I do wish there was no implied romantic interest because the book didn't need it, that part all felt like filler. Other than that, it was a quick, engaging read.

This is usually the kind of book I LOVE - South Asian woman protagonist, highly ambitious, reconciling between two worlds, set in Philadelphia AND in a hospital. It had such potential and I immediately gravitated toward it when I spotted it here.
I wish I could give this book a positive review. I wanted to love it. I did not.
Norah is one-dimensional and I never get any sense of depth or growth from her, nor much empathy until the very end of the book. Her lack of awareness could be attributed to a challenging home life (which I get), but it didn't make her at all relatable or draw sympathy from the reader. None of the characters seem at all developed, and this book read like a mishmash of television medical dramas that didn't bake nearly long enough. This was almost a DNF, and I wish I had trusted my instincts on that front.

“People in other, normal jobs might have their computer crash or someone took their hole puncher—that’s their day-to-day office crap. Our day-to-day office crap is death and human suffering.”

The White Coat Diaries offers a peek behind the curtain, revealing the inner workings of a doctor’s life. It shows the truth of what goes on behind closed doors in a hospital, the unglamorous truth of saving lives. And I’m not gonna lie, it was not exactly an easy pill to swallow. Norah slowly learns the importance of work-life balance, and the book makes the bureaucratic structure of the healthcare system clear. We get to see just how hard our doctors work to keep us safe, and how heavily every mistake weighs on them. Still, seeing how many mistakes occur is bone-chilling. It is no one’s fault exactly; there are just too many patients and far too few doctors. More than anything, The White Coat Diaries made me realize just how fragile the human body is, and that doctors are often just shooting in the dark. It’s not exactly comforting stuff.
As far as the plot goes, there isn’t really one. The “cover-up” does not occur until 75% of the way into the novel (I know because I was reading on my kindle). This means that the first 75% passes by with … no plot. It kind of just flows by like a memoir. The resolution did not sit well with me, and I feel like it left a lot of strings loose.
There isn’t really a clean ending, and characters just drop out of the story. While this happens in real life, it’s pretty disconcerting when it happens in a novel. Interesting stuff does happen throughout the story, but there is no real overarching plot tying it all together. Everything turns sideways in the last 10% of the book, and the book ends rather abruptly. Without giving too much away, it just seemed extremely out of character and sudded. While I understand that Norah is supposed to grow, her final actions do not seem like they belong to her at all.
The characters are all relatable and realistic, but they all seem lightweight and do little to impact the story. We mainly focus on Norah and her struggles with her work, which is the main point of the story after all. We get to hear just how exhausted she is, over and over, until it makes you kind of exhausted with the book itself. There were many points in the book where I genuinely had no idea where the story was going. I was expecting a drama, with a dose of righteousness, but I stumbled into a humdrum expose about the medical industry instead. I feel like the blurb itself was rather misleading, because I just immediately started imagining a rom com.
One of the reasons I picked up this book was because of the representation. The White Coat Diaries fared well on this point, portraying Norah’s struggle with her family in a relatable and understandable way. Sinha weaves in points that all Indian families can relate to, while also making Norah’s mother a real character and not just a stereotypical Indian mom. The mental struggles surrounding the South Asian community are well developed and feel natural rather than forced. At the same time, it never becomes the focal point of the story and is slipped in every now and then as an underlying conflict.
Overall, The White Coat Diaries provides a sneakily harrowing peek into the life of a doctor-in-training and the frustrations that plague her at every step, both personal and professional. While Norah is an inherently interesting character, she is let down by an ultimately underwhelming plot.

So interesting to see the trials and tribulations of a medical student during her first experiences in a prestigious city hospital. That includes relationships as well. I look forward to recommending this to readers who enjoy women's fiction, but are looking for something a little different, perhaps a little more realistic. Great book!

It is very seldom that I find myself at a loss for words when I review a book. But, in this case, I am having difficulty finding the right words to describe what I feel about what the writers intent was for the reader. That she has a flair for light comedy; drama; budding romance; truth will prevail; coming of age (a little older than most)? What ever the author's intent she had my attention from the first pages until the final page. I laughed. I cried. I enjoyed her foray into romance. I delighted in the heroines coming of age and the accepting of responsibility for her actions. But the ending was brilliant and leaves me waiting for the next phase of this character's story.

I highly recommend this book to readers who are looking for a refreshing change to the usual fare offered the reading public. I have rated this book 5 stars.

I received an ARC from Netgalley for my unbiased review.

Wowee! This was an eye-opener! And a good read, if only because of all of the back story realities of medical professionals and the grind it truly seems to be. As an educator, I get the whole compassion fatigue idea, too, though my case is not nearly that of the medical heroes portrayed in this book.......some of whom have so tragically seemed to have lost their way ethically. I also appreciated the back story of Norah, as it is VERY similar to my own in so many ways. And the fact that there are parallels made the reading a little more personal and, dare I say, richer, more intimate. I was certainly routing for her and hoping she could shed some of her obviously accrued cynicism...a fate left open at the end of the book, which I like.

When somebody advertise this book as Grey’s Anatomy meets Scrubs I honestly say “get out of here” or “are you serious?” because this book is too realistic and serious to remind us of tele novella kind of Shondaland series! And let’s not forget this is also not sarcastic and funny approach to doctors’ lives which are tremendously challenging, demanding. So let’s say, it’s at the zone of ER meets New Amsterdam: High tensioned, emotional, inspirational.

Great things about the book: well-crafted story telling, capturing chapters, likable characters and true, intense and heartfelt approach to our real heroes a.k.a doctor’ lives. Especially when we’re testing ourselves psychically and mentally to fight against the pandemic in these days, they never stop to work, saving people’s lives in expanse to put their own health into danger.
I truly loved Norah Kapadia as a character. It was so easy to resonate with her, worrying about her struggles to fit in the medical world and work harder to realize her family’s expectations, balance her romantic involvements and her friendships. It’s so important for her to be praised by her mentor Ethan Cantor. He is her role model and she wants to be capable to keep her calmness during daily emergencies and handle them with care. But sometimes their motto: “do not harm” may conflict with ethics and Norah finds herself to do the wrong thing to make things right. But her dilemma will change her view not only about her profession but her entire life. Is she at the right place and doing the right thing?

I enjoyed the family dynamics, self-discovery of Norah who finally understands her place in her family, in the hospital and finally in the universe. It’s realistic, fast pacing, emotional, gripping and well-written story and it’s also one of my fastest readings because the story-telling kept my attraction intact and it was real great break for me after reading so much thriller stories.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this remarkable ARC with me in exchange my honest review.

I loved this book! From the first page you are transported to a busy Philadelphia hospital. The author describes the patients, family members and fellow medical professionals with keen attention to detail. A great debut novel.