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amengelking's review against another edition
3.0
A thoughtful read. Indeed a harrowing experience for her. The part that troubled me, and left the biggest impression on me however, was the stigma of mental illness that persisted throughout the entire book. The fact of the matter is, that all mental illness likely has some biological basis. Thus, I would think she would identify with and empathize more with individuals with psychiatric illness, not less. She went to great lengths to clarify that her illness was NOT schizophrenia or any such psychological disorder. There is much we do not understand. Overall, I think she is courageous for telling her story, but not fully aware of the medical bias evident in her story.
msugar's review against another edition
2.0
This is a memoir about a girl who suffers from a very rare autoimmune disease which is mistaken for several different diagnoses, including psychiatrist diagnoses. Although it was interesting, it was extremely drawn out and way too long and would have been better as a short story. Everything was playing upon too much and every time I thought the memoir was ending, it just kept on going, which really made it difficult to finish. I mean, it was a good read, but I just felt it to be top drawn out with a lot of unnecessary information. It is written as if it could be found in a medical journal rather then a memoir
lex_chambers5's review against another edition
4.0
I liked brain on fire because she tells her story about her autoimmune disease and she can inform other people about it. I disliked the book because it was slow in the beginning and very hard to get into it but after chapter 12 it gets so good. I would recommend this book to anyone in the medical field so they can learn and understand the disease and also anyone who loves to read memoirs!
sageofthe6pack's review against another edition
emotional
informative
fast-paced
3.0
the whole story is told from the perspective of someone incredibly privileged. while she acknowledges this at the end, throughout the book she refers to it as simply being “lucky”, which is putting it mildly. she also talks rather callously about other, obviously worse off patients that she and her parents encountered during her hospital stay. other than this, it’s an interesting, quick read
torch_light_'s review against another edition
4.5
4.5; great book , would recommend, very up there on my list of nonfiction medical books
sunshine7772's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
marxxnna's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Great memoir that details the descent into madness and hospitalization of 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan. Her condition left doctors perplexed, but she would eventually be diagnosed with anti-NMDA receptor autoimmune encephalitis due to a persistent neurologist.
I enjoyed the book for its elaborate and informative look at how the brain can be affected by rare diseases.