Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

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

19 reviews

reb_knits's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Drug abuse and Drug use

anathema_thorn's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.25

This was part memoir, part white lady telling the reader what to do. I wish it was much more of the former and none of the latter, but the author thought it was more worth the space to provide advice for people beginning their chronic illness journey than to offer a more complete version of her own story. 

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.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, and Vomit

ivi_reads_books's review

emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

 This book is part memoir, part practical guide to navigating the U.S. healthcare system and advocating for yourself. It offers valuable insights on finding community, hope, and managing your health by focusing on what you can control.

The author shares her story with honesty and courage, offering readers both guidance and hope in their own health journeys. 

I recommend it to anyone living with a lifelong illness, as well as their family members and friends 

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Content Warnings

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

nhackley's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

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

beholderess's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Vomit, and Grief

elsea_readingelsea's review

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

4.0

Why isn’t heart wrenching an option for the mood of the book??

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

internationalreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent