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Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'
What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller
44 reviews
thepaperwitch's review
4.0
Pick this up if you or someone you know deals with chronic illness and/or IBD or Crohn's disease specifically. I'd also recommend it to anyone looking to learn a little bit more about the chronic illness perspective.
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma
Minor: Eating disorder, Excrement, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
It's a book about specific chronic illnesses, so it is going to be discussing that in a straightforward way, but it is not vulgar.joannakwilliams's review
3.5
That said, there was a lot of vulnerability about sharing her the ups and downs of her experience. I thought the majority of the memoir parts of the book were quite engaging. But I think I would recommend Samantha Irby writing over this book.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma
anathema_thorn's review against another edition
3.25
The parts of her chronic illness story she includes are compelling, like the initial chapters detailing her first hospitalization. They resembled mine so closely that I was hooked, only to be disappointed later on. She introduces important information about Crohn's disease with an unpredictable cadence throughout the book, in a way that tbh I think would make it difficult for someone new to learning about Crohn's to grasp what the disease entails. For crying out loud, it took her until at least halfway through the book to bring up immunosuppressant medication! There aren't a lot of good IBD-centric memoirs out there, and she clearly has the capacity to write something informative, but she didn't decide to make a more comprehensive memoir that makes Crohn's more understandable. Sigh.
While the advice, frankly, is often good, the language it is couched in is quite prescriptive and sometimes is condescending...maybe it strikes me that way because I'm already well acquainted with being chronically ill and someone who is newer in the journey might see it another way, though.
Getting more into the "white lady" part of it. From the writing style it is clear the author has a journalism background. While she acknowledges her privilege in a pretty standard way, it rings pretty hollow, considering how she goes onto casually drop the names of the publications she works for, the benefits she has, and vaguely alludes to how much her monthly salary is. The way she mentions how certain health outcomes affect people of different races or other demographics different from her own sounds like she was checking off a box rather than compassionately thinking about how chronic illness affects these communities. Also...through all of this she used the word "minorities"...c'mon, gurl, it's the 2020s. With all that in mind, her advice about how to choose doctors, among other things, sounds condescending, because while most people DO deserve much more considerate doctors and more thoughtful care, most people can't be choosy and frankly are lucky if they can even see a specialist regularly (obviously I wish that was different).
But maybe she realized a chronological telling of her life wouldn't have been as compelling as a combination of advice and memoir. Idk. Ultimately it's a really personal choice to even write a memoir, but for me I thought this story would have been more impactful if told very differently.
Graphic: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, and Vomit
madeofmatter's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
ivi_reads_books's review
4.5
I recommend it to anyone living with a lifelong illness, as well as their family members and friends
Graphic: Chronic illness and Medical content
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Eating disorder, and Blood
meliroo's review
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
nhackley's review
4.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
kyullua's review
3.0
What made me lower the score was the focus on the american healthcare system, which while I understand the needs to some of the readers I expected to hear more about coping and living with IBD and someone with IBD myself
I related to a lot of what the author said but felt like the developing “connection” (if you can call it that) was cut halfway through it with a lot of info regarding the medical system there
Graphic: Chronic illness
Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent
atokuyama's review
5.0
Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Ableism, Misogyny, and Gaslighting
rockyroadbutch's review
4.75
Graphic: Chronic illness, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Moderate: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic