Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

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

17 reviews

kennyrae89's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

Great book to read for people dealing with chronic illness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and 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!)

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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

readalongwithnat's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I received a free ARC from Henry Holt Books in exchange for my honest review.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint. My chronic illness differs from Tessa's, but I still found this book to be incredibly relatable. I also liked how it was part memoir and part educational. I want everyone in my life to read this so they can better understand living with a chronic illness.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Excrement, and Vomit

Moderate: Addiction, Ableism, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent

wildflower37's review against another edition

challenging informative

4.5

I have spent my career attempting to truly understand the lives experience of chronic illness. This book brings so much depth, along with honesty and urgency, to encourage empathy and allyship. I will be urging my colleagues to read and discuss this book. I plan to return the library copy and purchase one for myself as a reference.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction and Emotional abuse

melsuke's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction

lisabreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

 What Doesn’t Kill You by Tessa Miller is a chronic illness memoir. The author has Crohn’s Disease, like I do, but like many chronic illnesses, our symptoms and treatment paths are completely different. I did find this one leaning heavily on her experience in US healthcare and her persistent infections with C. Diff, neither of which I have personally experienced. She also goes a lot into her own personal history with abuse and the affects that had on her mental health during this experience as well, which was very personal to her.
So if you are reading this as a primer on Crohn’s, you’ll get some great information, especially if you are a US patient. But you will also get a lot of personal chapters that you would expect from a memoir.

Having Crohn’s can feel isolating as most people don’t love much “bathroom” talk so I appreciate anyone willing to share their story so I can feel a little less alone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

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. 

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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