Reviews tagging 'Violence'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

4 reviews

katrinarose's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part self-help, part political/sociological analysis, this was a wonderfully realistic yet hopeful book. As someone who has her same diagnosis (but has not gone through the level of severity she has) I empathized with her harrowing medical trauma. Her writing style kept me hooked. I imagine the self-help aspects to be invaluable for those with severe chronic illness and are written with such tenderness. She also rounds the book out with many statistics and research articles both to infuriate the reader about the state of healthcare in America but also act as a call to action. Since I am able to forget about my diagnosis 90% of the time, I don’t feel I am the exact target audience, however I loved it and would recommend to anyone chronically ill, anyone who has a chronically ill loved one, or anyone interested in the topic of healthcare in America.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This was a compelling, honest look at life with chronic illness. I felt seen and heard as a person with a disability while I read Miller's recounts of her life. This book gave me a lot to reflect on in my own experiences and beliefs about (dis)ability and a meaningful life with a chronic condition, while also validating me for the fears and emotions I experience. 

If you are chronically ill or disabled, I especially recommend this book to you.

This being said, please note the trigger warnings as this book may be difficult to read for some people. Miller discusses the abuse she experienced from her alcoholic father and drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, the nitty gritty of Crohn's (including detailed references to excrement, blood and vomit), medical trauma and ableism of many kinds, and sexual assault. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism

emfass's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part journalism, 1000% vulnerable and a must-read, especially if you love someone with chronic illness. I cannot speak from an #OwnVoices perspective, but I hope it would also help a reader with chronic illness feel seen. I listened to this on audiobook, and it was made even more powerful by listening to Miller tell her story in her own voice.

Content warning: the author is descriptive throughout concerning the effects of IBD (inflammatory bowel disease), C. diff, and Crohn's disease) and does not hold back about what it does to her body. She also shares openly about many different traumas she has faced throughout her life. (I love The StoryGraph website for more detailed content warnings, if you need them!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Eating disorder

diversifyyourshelf's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

Miller places a heavy emphasis on the mental and emotional toll of chronic illness, issues I don’t see discussed nearly enough! It is lonely and hard and exhausting being sick all the time, and she 1) shows us we’re not alone and validates those feelings and 2) offers help and advice from someone who has been there. 

 

I really enjoyed this book, and I do highly recommend it, with some caveats.  On one hand, I want everyone I know to read this, but on the other, Miller’s experiences, even before her diagnosis, are quite traumatic. There are descriptions of physical abuse, addiction, domestic violence, sexual assault, eating disorders (check the content warnings for the extensive list of possible triggers). 

 

I’m not at all saying that Miller shouldn’t have written this part of her story – in a lot of ways, I feel it was necessary to give a holistic view of her life experience - but it can be difficult to read. While a lot of Miller’s writing is highly specific to her and to her own diagnosis of Crohn’s, she does a good job towards the middle and end of each chapter in connecting her story to the broader chronic illness community. For sensitive readers, it may be helpful to skip the starts of each chapter. 

 

This book undoubtedly helped me, and there are actionable steps that I plan to take based on it! If you are chronically ill or are close to someone who is chronically ill, I advise you to pick this up. Thank you to Tessa Miller for using your voice to help the rest of us. And thank you to Henry Holt for sending me an advanced copy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma