Scan barcode
A review by sshabein
I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
After reading Hamnet (and absolutely loving it), I decided to check out Maggie O'Farrell's memoir from the library, and wow, what a book! She tells the stories of her life where she narrowly avoided death, and how those experiences shaped her. It isn't told chronologically, but in a way that definitely unfolds and flashes back in a really compelling way. Her writing is flush with description that never feels overwrought or superfluous.
Some of her brushes with death involve medical treatment, and my jaw quite literally dropped at what people, especially medical professionals, said to her during those times. From her childhood hospitalization from encephalitis to her many miscarriages after a difficult first birth, you'll be ready to fight a couple nurses and doctors ON SIGHT. That said, there is also the very moving moment where one mysterious medical person, about whom she never found out any information, really supported her when she needed it most. If you're a person who has medical trauma of any sort, you may want to check in with yourself before reading.
Between this book and Hamnet being among my favorites this year, I'm ready to delve further into her back catalog. I've had an ARC of Instructions for a Heatwave sitting around an embarrassingly long time, and I will definitely, finally read it.
Some of her brushes with death involve medical treatment, and my jaw quite literally dropped at what people, especially medical professionals, said to her during those times. From her childhood hospitalization from encephalitis to her many miscarriages after a difficult first birth, you'll be ready to fight a couple nurses and doctors ON SIGHT. That said, there is also the very moving moment where one mysterious medical person, about whom she never found out any information, really supported her when she needed it most. If you're a person who has medical trauma of any sort, you may want to check in with yourself before reading.
Between this book and Hamnet being among my favorites this year, I'm ready to delve further into her back catalog. I've had an ARC of Instructions for a Heatwave sitting around an embarrassingly long time, and I will definitely, finally read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Miscarriage, Violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Medical trauma