Heart in the Right Place: A Memoir | 
| Author: Carolyn Jourdan
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy Used: $1.81
You Save: $22.14 (92%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 117723
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 1565124871
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.8053092
EAN: 9781565124875
ASIN: 1565124871
Publication Date: May 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: All around good book.
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Product Description
Carolyn Jourdan had it all: the Mercedes Benz, the fancy soirees, the best clothes. She moved in the most exclusive circles in Washington, D.C., rubbed elbows with big politicians, and worked on Capitol Hill. As far as she was concerned, she was changing the world.
And then her mother had a heart attack. Carolyn came home to help her father with his rural medical practice in the Tennessee mountains. She'd fill in for a few days as the receptionist until her mother could return to work. Or so she thought. But days turned into weeks.
Her job now included following hazmat regulations for cleaning up bodily fluids; maintaining composure when confronted with a splinter the size of a steak knife; distinguishing between a "pain," a "strain," and a "sprain" on indecipherable Medicare forms; and tending to the loquacious Miss Hiawatha, whose daily doctor visits were never billed.
Eventually, Jourdan gave up her Mercedes and made do with a twenty-year-old postal jeep. She shed her suits for scrubs. And the funny thing was, she liked her new life. As she watched her father work tirelessly and uncomplainingly, she saw what making a difference really meant: being on call all hours of the day and night, tolerating the local drug addict's frequent phone calls, truly listening to Miss Hiawatha. It meant just showing up, every day, and taking care of every person in Strawberry Plains and beyond, whether he got paid to do it or not. And for his daughter, it meant learning that her real place to change the world was right here—in her hometown—by her father's side.
Book Description
"This is a wonderful book. I would have enjoyed it even if Carolyn wasn't a neighbor of mine in East Tennessee. She is a great writer."
?Dolly Parton, Singer, Songwriter, and Actress
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Heartwarming October 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A wonderful and humorous story about a daughter who returns from a high powered position in the United States Congress to be the receptionist for her father's country physician office. The cast of characters and their many illnesses, real and imagined, provide wonderful insight into the human condition. You will laugh at the antics of the country patients, friends and even the animals that Carolyn's daddy treats in his small town Smokey Mountain office. Carolyn Jourdan recounts it all with humor, pathos and spirituality. Don't miss this one!
 A Bit Overdone But Still Entertaining September 27, 2008
Why would a high powered Senate lawyer suddenly decide to become a country doctor's receptionist? Because her family asked her to. Carolyn Jourdan's 70 something mother who normally does the job for Carolyn's father, the small rural area's only doctor, has had a heart attack and family duty brings Carolyn to the rescue "for a few days". This delightful memoir tells us all what it's like to escape a life only to be dragged back in--and finding it much more fulfilling the second time around. Full of anecdotes about life in a country doc's office (where you can keep someone from dying AND x-ray a miniature goat in the same day) we can delight in the complicated simplicity of life East Tennessee through the eyes of one of is very own daughters. This book is hilarious, touching, and above all, honest.
 wholly lacking August 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
You can zip through this in the bookstore. Wholly lacking in character development and spiritual depth.
A Good Read! June 2, 2008
I enjoyed this book--even to the point of giving it as a gift to a friend. It's an easy read, with humor and inspiration. Given the options presented to the author, a lawyer on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC., she gives up her exciting career to return to her hometown in East Tennessee and help her aging father in his medical practice. The only negative was her use of her language--she would occasionally slip into the dialect of East Tennessee, which startled my senses. I found that it occasionally left me unsettled. Overall, the book was a delight and her characters worthy of the attention they received in the book. I'm recommending this book to my book club!
Different, refreshing, comforting, inspirational April 3, 2008
When I picked this book up at a relative's while visiting, I figured it was a "chick book." But, it was several hours later when I finally put it back down. It was such a real and compassionate story about every day heroes who care for (and about) America's hardest working blue collar men and women. A good book to bring you back to earth and help you sort out priorities. Great book for both men and women to read.
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