Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O'Rourke

18 reviews

growintogardens's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical content

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

happyunicorn7's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death of parent, Cancer, and Suicidal thoughts

plxtoprojector's review

slow-paced

2.5

Felt like it went on forever. Interesting, but the pacing took away from the content. I was looking forward to reading this, as someone who is chronically ill and was struggling with misdiagnosis and living in that grey area with no explanation, but her experiences were not as relatable to the majority of disabled people as she portrayed them- I resonated with her sickness, but her failure to directly acknowledge the immense amounts of privilege she had when going through this made her narrative feel disconnected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Medical content, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Death of parent and Eating disorder

katrinaward's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, and Ableism

kellylynnthomas's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is easily the best book on chronic illness I've ever read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical content

leahjanespeare's review

hopeful informative

5.0

This was the first book I've read that managed to make me feel seen as a fellow resident in the so called Invisible Kingdom. My RA diagnosis was not as wholly mysterious as the author's journey with her chronic conditions, but I was able to relate strongly with her emotions tied to her illnesses and newfound limits. There is frustration, anger, helplessness, just to name a few offhand. As much as I would never wish someone to experience chronic pain or fatigue or any other symptom of my RA, it was such a relief to hear someone else describe things that before I thought was unique and much of which made me feel isolated or crazy or overreactive. Since I'm relatively new to my now-disabled identity, people who have been dealing with illnesses like the author's their whole lives will likely receive this narrative differently than I did. Additionally, able-bodied people will definitely read it with a different lens. 
But I am hoping everyone reads this book because the more we share information about autoimmune diseases especially relating to COVID (which is what triggered my RA at age 28) the more research and funding and attention will go toward pain management, proper testing, and care for those with chronic illnesses. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

Moderate: Pregnancy

cheyison's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

minniepauline's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad

5.0

I’m buying this book for my doctors. I haven’t come across another book that tells what it’s really like to be chronically ill, especially in America. I recognize myself in these pages, even though it is Meghan’s own, individual story, so different from mine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness

clarabooksit's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

O’Rourke does a good job of blending personal narrative and research. She effectively and compassionately argues for reshaping the ways we as a society and as individuals think about chronic illness.

Key takeaways: how the invisibility of a lot of illnesses negatively impacts people on top of their already poor health—e.g. not being taken seriously, being dismissed, not getting the same kind of care and sympathy, etc.—and how we can do better simply by believing people; how desperate living with an unknown and therefore undiagnosed chronic illness can make someone and that there are people who take advantage of that; how chronic illness can affect the people around those who suffer from them, too; and that the pursuit of “cure-alls” is often damaging to the psyche when more emphasis should be put on adjusting to life with a chronic illness.

Her healthcare journey is often difficult to read about but an important one. I think a lot of people will feel seen by this book. And I think she does a decent job of acknowledging her personal privilege and sharing important research and statistics regarding minorities, particularly women of color, who have a chronic illness.

It does get a little repetitive in parts and for someone who lacks all of the privilege O’Rourke possesses, her story might be grating or frustrating. That’s not for me to decide, though.

I’m glad I read this. Many people in my life have a chronic illness and I’m always trying to better understand how and how much their illnesses impact their daily lives.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Cancer, and Classism

Minor: Excrement

peterpokeypanda's review

challenging hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility