Trauma Sponges is an in-depth look at a hard job that takes a physical, mental and emotional toll on anyone who takes on this job. Although this was a very interesting read at times it was heavily opinionated and political.

"Trauma Sponges: Dispatches from the Scarred Heart of Emergency Response" by Jeremy Norton provides a gripping and candid look into the challenging world of emergency response, delving into the emotional toll it takes on those on the front lines. The book stands out for its raw and unfiltered narratives, shedding light on the often overlooked human experiences within the realm of trauma response.

One of the book's notable strengths is Norton's commitment to highlighting the personal stories of those working in emergency response. The author skillfully weaves together accounts that capture the intense emotions, complexities, and resilience of individuals dealing with traumatic situations. The raw honesty and vulnerability of the narratives make the book a powerful and empathetic exploration of the human side of emergency response.

Norton's writing style is compelling and accessible, allowing readers to connect with the experiences of the individuals portrayed in the book. The dispatch format enhances the immediacy of the stories, providing a sense of urgency and authenticity. The book's focus on the emotional aftermath of trauma response sets it apart, encouraging readers to reflect on the mental and emotional toll that often accompanies these critical roles.

However, some readers may find the book lacking in a more comprehensive exploration of the systemic challenges within emergency response systems. While the personal narratives offer valuable insights, a broader examination of the structural issues affecting emergency responders could deepen the book's impact.

In conclusion, "Trauma Sponges" offers a poignant and eye-opening exploration of the emotional landscape within the world of emergency response. Jeremy Norton's commitment to sharing the human side of trauma response makes the book a compelling read for those interested in understanding the complexities faced by individuals on the front lines. While a broader systemic analysis could enhance the book's scope, its focus on personal narratives makes it a valuable contribution to the conversation around the emotional toll of emergency response.

Unfortunately the book archived before I had downloaded it but I will be purchasing when I can and will update my review!

I really liked this book, it was different than anything else I've read which was a breath of fresh air. I will be recommending this to my friends, and auto buy this author!

I really wanted to get to this one, as it seemed interesting. The downfall was that I requested so many ARCs that I could not get to all of them before the book was archived. If I can find this somewhere for a reasonable price, I will try to get it!

***** I have received and read an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for giving my honest feedback. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.*****

I've been an EMT for 20 years, and I always like reading about what other first responders experience. Especially since it can be so radically different depending on the areas you serve.

I was incredibly disappointed by this book.

The writing spoils the book. The information is repetitive and needs some serious editing. It's obvious the author has a lot he wants to tell us (the readers), but he's stuck in a loop trying to figure out what to say.

Serious editing and this book might be interesting, but as it is, I feel like I'm being generous with 1/5 stars.

As a former 911 and current police dispatcher, I was excited to give this book a read. Unfortunately it was not a hit for me. This felt very repetitive and not cohesive at all. I respect the time that the author put in on the job and I know that can take a toll on a person. I respect him and what he has done throughout his career. Sadly, this just wasn't the book for me.

This is the first time in decades that I have not finished a book.

I tried. I gave it my best shot and managed to finish 63% of the book when I received a ping from my local library iPhone app, Libby, letting me know that a book that I had requested was now available. Faced with continuing to slog through this book or reading a book that I really wanted to read, I gave up on “Trauma Sponges.” Believe it or not, it pained me to do so.

This book could have been something of real interest to a general audience. The author, a firefighter/EMT of many years, witnessed two major events: the death and aftermath of George Floyd situation and having to work though the COVID epidemic. When the author concentrated on those subjects, the book was fascinating.

Unfortunately, the author reiterates repeatedly his view of the culture of firefighters, who were for the most part, white men and how they related to “others”: women and minorities of all kinds. The first few times were interesting, but by the tenth time, I skimmed those passages.

The author obviously has something to say, and I really wanted to read what it is like to be an EMT during those days of unrest at that time. I blame the editor(s) of this book because they let the author down by not insisting the author to present a coherent story and one that people would want to read. I kept thinking that “Trauma Sponges” came off more as a vanity project rather than a serious discourse on the subjects.

This is the first book that I’ve reviewed for NetGalleys that I cannot recommend to anyone as there is no reason why anyone would subject themselves reading this mess.

1/5 stars

[Thank you to NetGalley and the author for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for my honest and objective opinion which I have given here.]

I enjoyed reading this book and learning more about firefighter culture, emergency response, and the collaboration between the police, medics, and firefighters. Although the author writes vividly, the style tends toward long-winded, and I sometimes felt like I was reading the same point stated multiple times in only slightly varied ways. I am not entirely sure how to categorize this book because it seemed to try to be multiple things at once. Many good points are made with valuable commentary, but as a whole, the book did not seem cohesive and sometimes had meandering focus.

memoir, firefighters, first-responders, stress, ptsd, cultural-differences, cultural-diversity, cultural-exploration, culture-of-fear, misogyny, misconceptions, misconduct, nonfiction*****

Caveat: I have burned out on major hospital ER and enjoyed working in a small inner city mission hospital ER. Later I enjoyed the sometimes frustrating position of RN in two different county jails.
2019 to the present put Minneapolis under the microscope for racial, police, and quarantine reasons but some very frustrating factors were unchanging. Citizens still called the fire department for a ride or find a lost pet or a hundred other reasons not of an emergency nature. And there were less and less first responders and more and more urgent calls complicated by fears. I live in Wisconsin, but we saw the same things without the intense media scrutiny and bias (all people in police and fire service are worse than scum). This is a venting tool for the author, a validation to all first responders, and gives civilians a hard look at themselves. I think this book has solid reasoning and a hard look at the men who perpetuate the negatives in their profession as well as hope for the future. Well worth the cost.
I requested and received an EARC from University Of Minnesota Press via NetGalley. Thanks for your service.

This has tremendous potential but it's bogged down by the writing. The publisher did Norton no favors by not giving this a strong edit to cut the repetition, make references consistent, and generally tighten things up. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This book seems to be about everything and nothing. Definitely, it´s not what the blurb says it is. Feels like the author wants to say a lot, but has no clue how. This is where the editing team should have stepped in.
Apart from that, I´d like to point out two things:
1. When you talk about race, be consistent. If you write Black with a capital case and white and brown with lower case it´s just disrespectful. I actually see this as racism. Black, White, Brown, Blue, Pink with Yellow Stripes!
2. Men in uniforms have massive egos! Gosh, someone is full of himself! I leave it as it is, otherwise, someone might feel offended.

First off, thank you to net galley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book. Trauma Sponges is some true like stories if what it’s like to be a firefighter and emergency medical technician. Over 22 years you get a sneak peak inside what it’s like to come up through the ranks and to experience medical emergencies. You learn there is more to your 911 call than you see. It’s a little long winded, and many stores would have more impact for me personally if it were in audio form; but it took me inside more than a drama on television ever could.

Thank you to Netgalley and The University of Minnesota Press for this advanced reader copy of Trauma Sponges.

Trauma Sponges is a firsthand recollection of the author’s experience working as a firefighter in Minneapolis over the past twenty-two years. The premise of an emergency responder with real life experiences documented in this book is what drew my attention initially. As someone who works in healthcare myself, I often find these types of books thought provoking and interesting from a medical standpoint.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish this book. The writing style feels quite tangential at times and difficult to follow, especially at the beginning of this book. The author brings up many important issues very early on in the book, and whilst these issues are relevant and should be discussed, I found it challenging to really absorb what they were trying to convey. They were trying to stress the importance of the issues without having given it time to talk about the lived experience and why they felt the way they did.

Part memoir, part non-fiction exploration of emergency response. This could have been hard-hitting, but it was severely unedited. It lacked cohesiveness, and I felt the author jump from tale to tale too quickly without wrapping up previous anecdotes.

Important work by the author was lost in surrounding and accompanying contents of the book.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and University of Minnesota Publishers for an ARC.

This is going to be a different review for me, as this is the first non-fiction book that I have reviewed in quite a while.

I believe I have the advantage of reviewing this book from the perspective of a fellow first responder, both on a paid and volunteer basis. My state's system is run very differently from that of the author's, however, many of my experiences and thoughts run parallel.

The author dives deep into many controversial subjects, including the mindset of first responders that have become jaded in their feelings towards patients, as well as the racial and financial divide of the emergency clientele. The author does include multiple stories of emergency calls into the book, which I feel many readers expected from the author. However, I do feel that the author added these stories not for the entertainment aspect, but to try and demonstrate to the reader many of the main points that he is trying to convey throughout the book. This book is not meant to be an action-packed collection of emergency calls, but it is meant to show the reader the many flaws of the emergency system that the author has experienced during his career.

I feel that this book is an easy read for those who work or volunteer as a first responder. This book is a great discussion piece for those of us who share the experience of the author. However, for those who are not first responders who pick up this book, it serves as a great eye opener to the system in its entirety, which I feel was the intention of the author. I could go on to discuss the points in which I agree or disagree with the author, but that would be an entire separate essay or review. I do feel that the author got his points across to the reader. This book will have you thinking about the emergency response and healthcare systems in its whole, and it is a great read for those who want a different perspective of the system.

I will be adding my review to my instagram and Goodreads closer to the publication date of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this book!

I had to dnf at 15%. It was too repetitive and wasn’t as engaging as I was hoping it would be. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

Just read it.

It’s not an action-packed memoir of high-stakes events. It’s not created for amusement or the dismal can’t-look-away-from-this-train wreck rubbernecking. It’s a gritty and tragic and often deeply heart wrenching depiction of what it looks like to be the people who show up for everyone’s worst moments, only to leave and never know what happens next.

To avoid algorithm buzzwords, I’ll just say this: Jeremy knows what he is and knows how to use it to elevate the voices of others. His acknowledgements, resources, and reading recommendations section is practically a novel in and of itself. He isn’t here to tell you anything new; he is here to tell you that none of it is new, and that it shouldn’t take hearing it from him to make people listen.

He doesn’t shy away from calling out ugly truths and uncomfortable realities. He calls himself and his coworkers and friends out with as much venom as he does others - and suggests that we do the same (put our money where our mouth is, so to speak), and is so pointed and honest that at times I found myself a little nervous for his safety, considering the subject matter.

It’s deeply imperfect and achingly sad, but it’s also sprinkled with both sarcasm and outright snark that caught me off guard in the best way. Even though hope, as he says, is not an action plan, it sure does help; and strangely, in spite of the exhaustion and bone-deep weariness, there is still hope shining through.

There's one thing the author would really, really like you to know: Contrary to common belief, firefighters don't spend most of their time fighting, well, fire; instead, what they do is provide first-response emergency care, i.e. CPR, until the medical team arrives.
He mentions this fact right away in the introduction -- fair enough. Then we get to hear it again in the first chapter. Also in the second. Third as well. In fact, Firefighters Are Actually EMTs becomes something of Trauma Sponges' theme song, and like most songs you are forced to listen to over and over again, it becomes old pretty fast.
The book is also something of a downer -- most people the author and his crew attend to either die despite (and during) CPR or are already dead when they get there; the Fire Department is not exactly the greatest place to work in if you happen to be gay, a POC and/or female (or care about people who fall in any of these categories); not only is the job grueling, but the public gives you shit as well, as do politicians and the "real" medical personnel. So there's that. What struck me most about the book was the repetitiveness of it all, it's the same gripes over and over, and while they're no doubt legitimate and need to be addressed, I felt exhausted as well as exasperated getting my face rubbed in them time and again. A bit of editing would have made a huge difference here.
Also, this is essentially a long rumination on a twenty-year career, not a collection of anecdotes -- if you come in expecting exciting tales of derring-do (or just any kind of actual tales really), you're bound to be disappointed. The author is a very deep thinker, but he's no storyteller, and it's not his intention to pander to sensationalist urges. Which is commendable, but still I could have done with a tad more excitement and a little less constitutional criticism; the book would have been great if the author and the editorial team could have found a balance between the two that would have given us a hint of what it actually feels like to be a firefighter instead of simply telling us about everything that's wrong with the system.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really couldn’t get into this book. I’m not sure why because I love anything medical. What I read was well written.