Reviews with content warning for Medical content - Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

49 reviews

kelly_e's review

informative mysterious medium-paced

4.25

Title: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Author: Susannah Cahalan
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4.25
Pub Date: November 13 2012

T H R E E • W O R D S

Informative • Brave • Fascinating

📖 S Y N O P S I S

In Brain on Fire, Cahalan tells about her abrupt descent into madness, her family's fight for her rights and medical attention, and a diagnosis that nearly never happened spotlighting misdiagnosis and the importance of seeking a second opinion.

💭 T H O U G H T S

There was just something about this book that was mesmerizing to me. It could be my fascination with the human brain, or desire to always learn new things. This memoir is a brave and honest account, offering a glimpse into a rare disease. It is partly the author's own personal journey, partly relevant scientific information. Woven together it helps raise awareness for the rare auto-immune disease known as encephalitis, while still bring an enjoyable story. The mixed media format used is perfect, as it allowed her investigative abilities to really shine, while helping to piece together everything she experienced.

I am always up for a beautiful story of survival, and in this one Susannah's journalistic abilities shine brightly. It is clearly evident she did her research, combining it with her own personal experience. This is such an important book on both the human and medical levels.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• medical professionals
• memoir lovers

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"We didn't mean to exclude others. My dad and I had gone off to war, fought in the trenches, and against all odds has come out of it alive and intact. There are few other experiences that can bring two people closer than starting death in the face."

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indyemmajones's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

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numberonefan's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

3.0

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madelonpaige's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

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chloegshort's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed reading Susannah's experience of her condition. It also did a very good job of raising awareness for her condition.

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ryanmoths's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring tense fast-paced

4.75

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bookmarksandcaffeine's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

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whatsamreads's review against another edition

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informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

This is another one to add to the list of fascinating memoirs I've read this year. It was a fast read and it felt like a mystery as doctors tried to piece together Cahalan's symptoms to find a diagnosis. It was such an intriguing story and there was a good balance of her experience and science. It felt more like journalism than a memoir at times, which makes sense because of Cahalan's profession, but also because she doesn't remember her "month of madness" so has pieced it together from other sources. That did mean I didn't feel very attached to Cahalan as a person so I don't know how memorable the book itself will be in a few months time but I was completely gripped by the story while I was reading it.

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