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Reviews
What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller
lattelibrarian's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
What Doesn't Kill You is an insightful look into Crohn's Disease and how it affects all aspects of one's life: friends, romance, work, and more, given the recent pandemic. Miller was diagnosed with Crohn's at a young age, quickly followed by a nasty C. Diff infection (and another, oh, and an E. Coli infection, too). Her lowest moments are arguably being hospitalized for weeks on end, or perhaps it's when she flies to Paris with her boyfriend after he hits her. It could even be needing said boyfriend's poop for a fecal transplant, or perhaps begging her health insurance via Twitter during a pandemic for her medication. Miller's had it rough, but she's quick to remind us that disabled people all deal with various issues, some better, some worse.
Miller discusses her illness, abuse, addiction, navigating health insurance, and beyond, making this biography an extremely helpful resource. It's clear Miller was born to write and she succeeds greatly at it. At the end, inspiringly, are moments of joy and happiness as experienced by 38 other people with an invisible disability. This rounds out the book in a way that is enjoyable and hopeful.
Miller discusses her illness, abuse, addiction, navigating health insurance, and beyond, making this biography an extremely helpful resource. It's clear Miller was born to write and she succeeds greatly at it. At the end, inspiringly, are moments of joy and happiness as experienced by 38 other people with an invisible disability. This rounds out the book in a way that is enjoyable and hopeful.
nhackley's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Addiction, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Alcoholism
hannah_reads_sometimes's review
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Parts of this book are quite hard/triggering BUT it is so worth the read. It’s a really really great insight into dealing with chronic illness (as well as complex relationships). Miller deals well with all the privileges she has and doesn’t have and all that comes with that. Mainly memoir but also full of well researched information. While I read this from the library, I highly recommend it as a purchase. There are so many great resources and passages to highlight.
11corvus11's review
DNF. Not because it's bad, but there was a lot of advice and intro stuff I simply already know too well. If I could have just extracted her personal memoir and read that I'd stick with it because it's an interesting insight to crohns and ibd that isn't widely available. This book would have been great for me when I first became too disabled to work many years ago though. Lots of good advice.
emmamde's review
5.0
If you or someone you know is dealing with a chronic illness/ pain you should read this book. The author clearly explains what it’s like to live with one in a way anyone could understand.
kqk's review against another edition
It was emotionally overwhelming for me and I just could not continue with it. It was the February therapist book club selection and I was sad to miss the discussion.