And care home residents (I too hate the world clients) shouldn't need to have to be 'humanized' but Pope does bring out the people so lovingly, whilst still sharing what it's like when the people he's getting to know may be disinhibited, emotional, or disconnected in ways their families don't recognize, for worse and sometimes for better. And Hannah Weatherill, acting head of media rights with Penguin Random House, said: ‘Pope’s memoir about his work as a carer is extraordinary – he captures the personalities of the residents, their families, and his colleagues in all their complexity with incredible empathy and humour. Shame, for if his recollections are honest, he genuinely seemed to care for his residents and had a bond with many of them that would have made their last few months a little less brutal. The personal care work stories were as just as you'd expect patients with dementia saying odd stuff so not sure why so many reviews want more of that.

Then there’s Barry, who claims to have killed his wife, and Dennis who brags of his cruel treatment of the women he seduced while working as a bartender. When friends ask me what to read next, I will be suggesting this book until they’ve all read it too and passed it on.

Please read it - we should all read this and understand what happens in care homes and how important workers like Pope are in caring for our loved ones. His comedy act is based on finding humour in dealing with the realities of old age, however on the written page it all comes across as depressing and tragic, rather than funny. At the same time, Lonergan rails against a social and political system that underfunds and undervalues care work and the people who do it.

The second is that the political and societal aspects of his job are very much foregrounded throughout the tome, making this a far more serious offering. per cent national insurance tax increase will go far toward remedying the “ fundamental long-running” problems with the system.Physical and mental deterioration is not something most people are comfortable witnessing, which is why so many elderly people end up in care homes. Publishers Penguin Random House have struck a deal with Expectation, the production company behind shows such as Alma's Not Normal and In My Skin, which will see the book adapted for television. Not an easy read, but if you want to know what care homes for the demented are like, and why, it's essential reading. Chapeau Pope, you should very proud of creating such a beautiful and affecting piece of work - I'm sure I'm not the only one it will stay with forever. He also admits it scratched his itch for rebellion against the dehumanising rules imposed by managers focused on the “business-over-welfare model of profit extraction”, expecting better treatment for self-funding residents than those receiving government support.

I think most people who have or do work in the healthcare system have experienced similar things and thoughts.But his “unsanitised, unsentimentalised” account of the decade he spent “wearing haemorrhoids as cufflinks”, spooning out yoghurt and hearing people’s most intimate (and sometimes final) confessions will leave readers in no doubt of the emotional, physical and financial pressures of the undersung and underpaid job. Homes are also struggling to recruit and retain their workers, with a 10th of job vacancies unfilled. Popes honesty and openness about his own personality and struggles are a refreshing change from the norm. Definitely needs to be more books like this talking about poor pay and poor attitudes towards those on lower pay scale jobs. The references to academic books on the subject and his philosopising went over my head and I was not sure they were not just there to make us realise how well read and intellectual he was as opposed to the majority of care home workers .