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cass_cgallegos's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
As a chronically ill person, I’m aware that others experience the loneliness, confusion, fear, and grief that I do. But knowing that I’m not the only one feeling these things doesn’t help me feel them less and it doesn’t make them easier to feel. However, this book lifted the burden just a little bit. Chronic illness is, as Meghan puts it, shit. Some days are better than others, but none of my days will ever be what I imagined for my life when I was a child. The honesty and chaos and refusal to make her pain palatable was so refreshing. Chronically ill people are so often expected to bear their illness with grace, and for what? So we can suffer in silence? Absolutely not. Meghan gave voice to everything that surrounds chronic illness and didn’t try to make it something it isn’t. It doesn’t have to mean anything and there doesn’t have to be a purpose. I think I’ve been needing to hear that for a very long time.
shamelessbibliophile41's review
4.0
A really compelling book that is part memoir, part history of the way chronic illness and the people who suffer from it is treated and viewed in the US. O’Rourke writes beautifully and honestly about her experience.
smalltownbookmom's review against another edition
5.0
A really great memoir about living with chronic and invisible illnesses. The author talks about her own experience with endometriosis plus a host of other autoimmune conditions she has and the struggles she goes through finding a diagnosis. Interspersed throughout her own story she cites facts and studies about chronic illnesses as a whole. Great on audio read by the author and highly recommended!
yoyoitsflo's review
3.0
This book was honestly hard to get through and just really didn’t do it for me. It was hard to connect fully with the author’s personal journey because when it was getting somewhere, it would immediately switch to the data driven portions. Some of it was quite informative but after awhile, I just wanted to hear more about the author’s journey than statistics and facts about certain things. This was the main source of difficulty with connecting for me. However, I can acknowledge the importance of such data being collected and being presented in one place.
Also, it’s very interesting how despite all the data, there it’s very little nuance provided about the ways in which society treats chronically ill and disabled people. I can understand if the other doesn’t identify that way, but it seems like a huge thing to leave out of such a book.
Overall, three starts because I can see the value it holds, but if it weren’t for that, my rating would be less.
Also, it’s very interesting how despite all the data, there it’s very little nuance provided about the ways in which society treats chronically ill and disabled people. I can understand if the other doesn’t identify that way, but it seems like a huge thing to leave out of such a book.
Overall, three starts because I can see the value it holds, but if it weren’t for that, my rating would be less.
jhigginbottom's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
“But to be ill in America today is to be brought up against the pathology of a culture that denies this fact”
ncrozier's review
4.0
Loved this exploration of chronic illness. So much to think about. As per usual... the world sucks.
librarygeek611's review
5.0
This book is everything I've been seeking about chronic illness and autoimmunity. I cried multiple times at the poetic way that O'Rourke describes the lack of control, grief, helplessness, and longing that comes with chronic illness. And my illness is worlds less severe than what she has endured. In addition to her personal story, she does an amazing job of weaving in the realities of our medical system as well as the lack of research and contention about what autoimmunity even is in the medical community. As someone who has been failed in many ways by both conventional, Western medicine and alternative medicine, she explains with what I think is the REQUIRED nuance of where both systems fall short. She also does a great job of recognizing the privilege she had to even explore her disease in the way she did, monetarily and in a system that privileges her identities. Although she spends time discussing how autoimmunity disadvantages all women who are 80-90% of autoimmune diagnoses but who also experience a lack of recognition of their symptoms or seen as things being "in their head". I found it laughable but true that some of the doctors on the forefront of Long Covid are ones who are now ill themselves and realizing how devastating it can be living with an unexplainable, untreatable, confusing illness.
Highly, highly recommend for anyone interested in chronic illness, our current medical and alternative health systems, and what health is in general. Honestly, it should be REQUIRED READING for doctors, nurses, scientists, and alternative medicine practitioners.
Highly, highly recommend for anyone interested in chronic illness, our current medical and alternative health systems, and what health is in general. Honestly, it should be REQUIRED READING for doctors, nurses, scientists, and alternative medicine practitioners.