Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
a one in a million story about a medical mystery in the right place at the right time. i appreciated the author’s constant reminder that most are not lucky enough to be listened to and taken seriously, let alone diagnosed and treated. some parts in here felt like they were teetering the “mental illness isn’t real” line but i’m giving them a pass since it was the early 2010s
An interesting and somewhat scary rendition of making it through a rare and little known disease. Interesting in that being put in that situation, I'm not sure I would have had the support and met the right people to come through; and scary as it brings to light how little we still know about the brain, its illnesses, and mental illness, even given all that we do know. Can hope the novel brings awareness to the illness and more research is done to help others that are in similar circumstances.
Wow. I read this book in a day and a half... And I am busy moving house at the moment! Talk about compulsive reading! I can see why Cahalan is such a successful reporter. Amazing story, beautifully written and researched. Honestly one of the best memoirs I have ever read. The world is blessed by the almost-full recovery of such a brilliant spark. A highlight of 2014! Loved it!
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
fast-paced
One of my all time favorite novels about the rare science behind "possession". The scientific counterpart of my personal favorite paired reading, which would be with "Come Closer" by Sara Gran.
Fascinating to follow someone through such a terrifying experience. She does an incredible job at moving the story along while also giving you a sense of how drawn out and exhausting the experience was.
I have the Netflix movie based on this memoir on my watch list, but promised myself I wouldn't watch it until I'd read the book. In a lull between book club choices, I picked this up and only put it down to go to work and eat meals. I was totally engrossed in Susannah's experience from start to finish.
This story could have easily felt repetitive, especially in the middle of the book, where she's continually experiencing intense physical symptoms of her disease with no answer in sight, but it kept me interested through out. The short chapters broke her harrowing experiences into bite-sized chunks that were easy to digest, and left me wanting more. I also really appreciated how well she clearly explained what was happening to her in scientific terms. I had a family member go through an illness that directly dealt with the brain and a lot of the different tests she mentioned - like the clock test - I was familiar with. It was also interesting to learn about other parts of the brain, what they're responsible for, and what happens to them if they are affected by an illness or swelling.
Once I finished the book, I found myself researching Susannah. I'm interested to read more of her work and I hope the show does her story justice.
This story could have easily felt repetitive, especially in the middle of the book, where she's continually experiencing intense physical symptoms of her disease with no answer in sight, but it kept me interested through out. The short chapters broke her harrowing experiences into bite-sized chunks that were easy to digest, and left me wanting more. I also really appreciated how well she clearly explained what was happening to her in scientific terms. I had a family member go through an illness that directly dealt with the brain and a lot of the different tests she mentioned - like the clock test - I was familiar with. It was also interesting to learn about other parts of the brain, what they're responsible for, and what happens to them if they are affected by an illness or swelling.
Once I finished the book, I found myself researching Susannah. I'm interested to read more of her work and I hope the show does her story justice.
The medical information in this book was interesting, but the writing was oversaturated.
Ugh….so I really hate to downvote a memoir because it’s someone else’s experience, but this one was just……take my 3 stars but consider this one a 4/10. I read this one for the book club I host at work and then no one came (this is like my 5th no-show it’s fine) and I was actually relieved because I didn’t know how I was going to sit there for an hour discussing this book and NOT totally shit all over it.
First of all, I really didn’t love the journalistic writing style. It really read like a neverending article or a blog post. She would constantly say stuff like ‘little did I know that…” or “it would be several months before I…” and I know it’s weird but it bothered me because…I just wanted to get to that point chronologically. It took me out of the moment she was describing.
One fun easter egg complaint I have is regarding the audiobook/narrator. First off, an audiobook loses my interest when the narrator choice is an older voice. Susannah was in her early/mid-20s and her narrator sounded 50. Not only that, but whose decision was it to have her read the dialogue from different people in their foreign accents?? It was so unnecessary and SO ignorant -- the accents were plentiful and they were all SO BAD. There’s at least a Middle Eastern, Filipino, Jamaican, and I believe Indian accent. The accents were so not the move.
This book comes with a healthy amount of ableism (vaguely anti-autistic among other things lmao) and some fatphobia too, from when the author couldn’t stand her appearance after some time on medication and in the hospital; she refers to her weight gain/appearance as ‘Roasted Pig Syndrome’, and she doesn’t even use poor body image or eating disorder issues as a scapegoat to mask her prejudice.
It was surprising for her to acknowledge that the story would’ve turned out a lot differently had she not had the privilege of tons of money and support which she references often by talking about the rich community that her family vacations to, and also as a person with insurance and family who are willing to advocate for her.
This isn’t the usual critical lens I read my books through, but I couldn’t help but pinpoint all the flags in this one. It all really just seems par for the course/time period; I feel like maybe this book just didn’t age well, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read it when it was published and when my social awareness was much less refined.
First of all, I really didn’t love the journalistic writing style. It really read like a neverending article or a blog post. She would constantly say stuff like ‘little did I know that…” or “it would be several months before I…” and I know it’s weird but it bothered me because…I just wanted to get to that point chronologically. It took me out of the moment she was describing.
One fun easter egg complaint I have is regarding the audiobook/narrator. First off, an audiobook loses my interest when the narrator choice is an older voice. Susannah was in her early/mid-20s and her narrator sounded 50. Not only that, but whose decision was it to have her read the dialogue from different people in their foreign accents?? It was so unnecessary and SO ignorant -- the accents were plentiful and they were all SO BAD. There’s at least a Middle Eastern, Filipino, Jamaican, and I believe Indian accent. The accents were so not the move.
This book comes with a healthy amount of ableism (vaguely anti-autistic among other things lmao) and some fatphobia too, from when the author couldn’t stand her appearance after some time on medication and in the hospital; she refers to her weight gain/appearance as ‘Roasted Pig Syndrome’, and she doesn’t even use poor body image or eating disorder issues as a scapegoat to mask her prejudice.
It was surprising for her to acknowledge that the story would’ve turned out a lot differently had she not had the privilege of tons of money and support which she references often by talking about the rich community that her family vacations to, and also as a person with insurance and family who are willing to advocate for her.
This isn’t the usual critical lens I read my books through, but I couldn’t help but pinpoint all the flags in this one. It all really just seems par for the course/time period; I feel like maybe this book just didn’t age well, and I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had read it when it was published and when my social awareness was much less refined.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced