Reviews tagging 'Grief'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

17 reviews

imstephtacular's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, Classism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Excrement, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

kateph's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Vomit

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part journalism, 1000% vulnerable and a must-read, especially if you love someone with chronic illness. I cannot speak from an #OwnVoices perspective, but I hope it would also help a reader with chronic illness feel seen. I listened to this on audiobook, and it was made even more powerful by listening to Miller tell her story in her own voice.

Content warning: the author is descriptive throughout concerning the effects of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), C. diff, and Crohn's disease) and does not hold back about what it does to her body. She also shares openly about many different traumas she has faced throughout her life. (I love The StoryGraph website for more detailed content warnings, if you need them!)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Medical content, Grief, and Excrement

Moderate: Eating disorder

spaghettireads's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Excrement, Grief, Medical content, Vomit, Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder

melsuke's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, and Excrement

Moderate: Addiction

alexandrap529's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault

diversifyyourshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Miller places a heavy emphasis on the mental and emotional toll of chronic illness, issues I don’t see discussed nearly enough! It is lonely and hard and exhausting being sick all the time, and she 1) shows us we’re not alone and validates those feelings and 2) offers help and advice from someone who has been there. 

 

I really enjoyed this book, and I do highly recommend it, with some caveats.  On one hand, I want everyone I know to read this, but on the other, Miller’s experiences, even before her diagnosis, are quite traumatic. There are descriptions of physical abuse, addiction, domestic violence, sexual assault, eating disorders (check the content warnings for the extensive list of possible triggers). 

 

I’m not at all saying that Miller shouldn’t have written this part of her story – in a lot of ways, I feel it was necessary to give a holistic view of her life experience - but it can be difficult to read. While a lot of Miller’s writing is highly specific to her and to her own diagnosis of Crohn’s, she does a good job towards the middle and end of each chapter in connecting her story to the broader chronic illness community. For sensitive readers, it may be helpful to skip the starts of each chapter. 

 

This book undoubtedly helped me, and there are actionable steps that I plan to take based on it! If you are chronically ill or are close to someone who is chronically ill, I advise you to pick this up. Thank you to Tessa Miller for using your voice to help the rest of us. And thank you to Henry Holt for sending me an advanced copy. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, and Grief