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A review by teresatumminello
The Shaking Woman, or A History of My Nerves by Siri Hustvedt
4.0
This book is the result of a talk Hustvedt was asked to give as part of a series on Narrative Medicine. It's not a memoir, though its touchpoint is a personal experience of the author, but reads as an extended essay. As with the best of essays, its interest originates from the particular of the personal, then opens up into the general, the universal. Its focus is on the mind-brain conundrum, reaching back into its history and changing cultural meanings, as far back as Wittgenstein and even further back for examples, then leads back to a present that doesn't seem all that different as to how much is known. Fittingly for a novelist, her sympathies are with the individual and individual stories.
Fifteen years ago, I, like many others, experienced lower back pain. The pain shot down into my leg and kept me awake at night. After trying 'everything', I read [b:Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection|144873|Healing Back Pain The Mind-Body Connection|John E. Sarno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344266014l/144873._SY75_.jpg|2291234] and recognized that my stress had gone to my back: the pain disappeared. Some time later, I started having headaches that I thought were migraines and they were treated as such, though 'nothing' seemed to work on them. During internet research, I read a description of tension headaches and realized those were what I was experiencing, not migraines: I haven't had one since. Labels-- diagnoses -- are powerful.
Because her approach is interdisciplinary, this is not the only topic she touches. She speaks of memory, dreams, imagination, synesthesia, hallucinations, subjectivity, and the nature of the self. This might seem too much for such a short book, but each subject flows naturally into the next.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go do my yoga stretches and weights for my neck pain, which at least has a story behind it...
Fifteen years ago, I, like many others, experienced lower back pain. The pain shot down into my leg and kept me awake at night. After trying 'everything', I read [b:Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection|144873|Healing Back Pain The Mind-Body Connection|John E. Sarno|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344266014l/144873._SY75_.jpg|2291234] and recognized that my stress had gone to my back: the pain disappeared. Some time later, I started having headaches that I thought were migraines and they were treated as such, though 'nothing' seemed to work on them. During internet research, I read a description of tension headaches and realized those were what I was experiencing, not migraines: I haven't had one since. Labels-- diagnoses -- are powerful.
Because her approach is interdisciplinary, this is not the only topic she touches. She speaks of memory, dreams, imagination, synesthesia, hallucinations, subjectivity, and the nature of the self. This might seem too much for such a short book, but each subject flows naturally into the next.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go do my yoga stretches and weights for my neck pain, which at least has a story behind it...