Heart in the Right Place

A Memoir

By: Carolyn Jourdan

Narrated by: Kate Forbes

Carolyn Jourdan spent many years as a congressional lawyer in Washington, D.C. Then she was called home to fill in for her mother as receptionist at her father's rural Tennessee doctor's office - assured it would only be for a few days.©2007 Carolyn Jourdan (P)2008 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Jourdan's dispatches from the reception desk make for a stirring, beautiful memoir that is alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, and ultimately a triumph." ( Publishers Weekly)

Wonderful book

I stumbled across this book in a local newspaper review. The author goes back to rural TN to help with her parents' medical practice when her mother becomes ill. The author has been in Washington living a "well heeled" life. Well, it isn't long before she realizes she is helping more people in one day in the doctor's office than she ever did in DC. You will love this book!

Drawn out

My aunt loved this book and recommended to me. However, it felt unrealistic that a daughter of a doctor was so surprised when exposed to simple medical experiences and she seemed like an immature 13 yo rather than in her 40s. The moral of the story was touching but could have ended a lot earlier.

Meet backwoods folks and enjoy their world

Would you listen to Heart in the Right Place again? Why?

yes, great story, characters, and message.

What did you like best about this story?

The hilarity of the stranger than fiction characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Born here, this could be your world.

Any additional comments?

One of the lessons learned was profound: Isn't that what love is; paying selfless attention?

The best thing we can do for another person is to pay attention to them. All we really have to give each other is our attention.

Finding your dreams

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

this is a book about finding what you really want in life. It teaches a lesson that what you think you want and what you really want are sometimes different things. It is a cute funny story reminiscent of the Herriot veterinary books only told with people.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Carolyn Jourdan the author. I like the way she changed from being all involved in the phony crowd she worked with to becoming a person involved with people and their feeling.

Have you listened to any of Kate Forbes’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes--it was not that long and it had very funny parts in it. I just wanted to see what happened to the main character.

More of a short story collection...

This is a story about a high-powered Washington "insider" who returns to Tennessee to become an office manager and rescue her family's medical practice. The story line is more about episodes in the lives of the doctor's patients, rather than a single plot line, although the writing is more plot than character.There is good use of irony in the protagonist's comments throughout about being out of place, as a worldly, "successful" person working as a receptionist in a small town Southern medical office.

I enjoyed this listen but the author seemed to me to be quite masculine in focus, even though the author's name, as well as the narrator, are female. There are few female characters, and those that do show up are not well fleshed-out. Perhaps the author is a "nom-de-plume" adopted in order to appeal to the female demographic.

If you enjoy car talk, unpleasant accidental interactions between men and farm equipment, and horse talk, even slapstick medical gaffes, you will like this book.

I am giving it a 4 out of 5, though, in spite of the fact that I had to skip over some of the technical gear talk, because it's well-written and has an inspiring message.