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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
Binged this book and finished it in a day. What a wild medical mystery story!
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Susannah Cahalan's story is fascinating and terrifying, and I loved learning about it. It's clear she's done a lot of research, as far as is possible for such a rare and little-understood condition, and the narration of her initial rapid descent is chilling in its detail.
However, this part of the book ends quite quickly and the rest feels overlong and tedious. I know I will seem heartless, but I really didn't need every detail from her period of recovery. It's kinda dull, and some of the detail feels completely superfluous and repetitive. I trudged through the final third in twice the time the first two took me.
Overall, this was compelling enough. And I'm possibly just a bitch.
However, this part of the book ends quite quickly and the rest feels overlong and tedious. I know I will seem heartless, but I really didn't need every detail from her period of recovery. It's kinda dull, and some of the detail feels completely superfluous and repetitive. I trudged through the final third in twice the time the first two took me.
Overall, this was compelling enough. And I'm possibly just a bitch.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
fast-paced
This fascinating memoir shows the best and worst of the medical profession, from the doctor who inflates Susannah's "one glass of wine a night" to "two bottles a night" and decides her psychosis and seizures are due to excessive partying, all the way to the doctor whose intimate knowledge of the current medical literature allows him to test for and diagnose the rare autoimmune condition she has and then carefully and painstakingly bring her back to health. Prior to reading this I don't think I realized that such full-blown psychosis could be a symptom of something physiological, not psychological, and her case speaks to the need for integrated care so patients can be accurately assessed and diagnosed.
At times the descriptions were excessive and detracted from the story, as if Cahalan was trying to create the feel of a feature article rather than a personal memoir. For the most part, though, her decisions about what information to include helped move the story along and keep me interested, even with all the medical explanations. I enjoyed this on audiobook, as the narrator did a great job of replicating Cahalan's vocal oddities, whether she was manic with racing speech or monotone and slurring. The whole idea of "coming down with" a mysterious, psychosis-inducing illness is pretty terrifying, but it's good that this story is out there to educate more people and possibly prevent more misdiagnoses. This is worth a read.
At times the descriptions were excessive and detracted from the story, as if Cahalan was trying to create the feel of a feature article rather than a personal memoir. For the most part, though, her decisions about what information to include helped move the story along and keep me interested, even with all the medical explanations. I enjoyed this on audiobook, as the narrator did a great job of replicating Cahalan's vocal oddities, whether she was manic with racing speech or monotone and slurring. The whole idea of "coming down with" a mysterious, psychosis-inducing illness is pretty terrifying, but it's good that this story is out there to educate more people and possibly prevent more misdiagnoses. This is worth a read.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced