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joanna_banana 's review for:
Everything is Tuberculosis
by John Green
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Absolutely wept while reading The Fault in Our Stars and this one while non-fiction may get you going too! Heart felt and thoroughly researched, I appreciated John Green using his “megaphone” to give voice to stories that go untold, overlooked, disregarded. The fact that TB still kills over a million people a year when we have drugs that can cure it is criminal. Green lays out why, a lot of which is history, but most of which is the legacy of colonialism, late-stage capitalism, and racism. I liked how he wove Henry’s story in Sierra Leone throughout the chapters on the history, science, economics, and politics of TB. He rightfully made it all a question of justice. I didn’t hire follow how he organized the chapters - loosely chronological - but he repeated himself in places, coming back to the same statements and ideas. So it could have been a little tighter. I also feel like he could have told a few other stories more in depth in other countries to show it’s not just Sierra Leone, it’s elsewhere too. I can understand why he kept it shorter to reach more audiences. Would highly recommend.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma
Moderate: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Slavery, Terminal illness, Violence, War