A review by marthaos
Constellations by Sinéad Gleeson
4.0
I knew I’d like this book from the outset. Any piece I’ve read by Sinead Gleeson or anytime I’ve heard her in conversation is astute, smart and incisive. The premise of the book also appealed to me...a series of essays, many of which are based on the author’s experience of illness, subjective enough to be personal, real and raw, objective enough to be a comment on society and the many systems we depend on in times of crisis and need, how they fail and support us.
Gleeson has a very powerful way with language, of drawing us into her story, so that we feel we are there with her through all the events described, the braces and casts put on, and cut off, to support her hips, the unrelenting pain experienced since early childhood, the condescension of most in the medical system whom she encountered; the numbing shock and pain described in the essay entitled “Our Mutual Friend” as well as the nose-to-nose confrontation with mortality; the pains of childbirth and the beautiful honesty about the vulnerability of being a new mother; the scene of death of her dear “second mother” so vividly described in the last chapter, right down to the smell in the room, the quiet stagnancy of the final wait. In each of the essays, Gleeson knowledge of medical terminology is apparent, but rather than being overwhelmingly scientific, she plays with these words to create a sort of poetry. She does this to even greater degree in her essay/poem on some of her most intense experiences of pain, which she structures like the McGill Pain Index. And she shows the expanse of her capability with language when she writes a letter in the form of a poem (“non-letter”) to her daughter.
She also comments on other artists who used art to articulate and communicate their experience of illness. Frida Kahlo, Lucy Grealy and Jo Spense were all such women, and their stories greatly impacted on Gleeson during her times of illness, allowing her not to feel so alone, but also to see the human body in new ways, with possibility for artistic exploration, not only celebrating life and vitality, but taking a sharp and critical look at illness and demise. I too wanted to learn more about these artists and looked up their work, seeing what an impact they had on the author.
This was a very impactful, passionate and powerful book. It is one that will stay with me as an intense reminder of the joy and pain of living, the strength and fragility of the human body.
Gleeson has a very powerful way with language, of drawing us into her story, so that we feel we are there with her through all the events described, the braces and casts put on, and cut off, to support her hips, the unrelenting pain experienced since early childhood, the condescension of most in the medical system whom she encountered; the numbing shock and pain described in the essay entitled “Our Mutual Friend” as well as the nose-to-nose confrontation with mortality; the pains of childbirth and the beautiful honesty about the vulnerability of being a new mother; the scene of death of her dear “second mother” so vividly described in the last chapter, right down to the smell in the room, the quiet stagnancy of the final wait. In each of the essays, Gleeson knowledge of medical terminology is apparent, but rather than being overwhelmingly scientific, she plays with these words to create a sort of poetry. She does this to even greater degree in her essay/poem on some of her most intense experiences of pain, which she structures like the McGill Pain Index. And she shows the expanse of her capability with language when she writes a letter in the form of a poem (“non-letter”) to her daughter.
She also comments on other artists who used art to articulate and communicate their experience of illness. Frida Kahlo, Lucy Grealy and Jo Spense were all such women, and their stories greatly impacted on Gleeson during her times of illness, allowing her not to feel so alone, but also to see the human body in new ways, with possibility for artistic exploration, not only celebrating life and vitality, but taking a sharp and critical look at illness and demise. I too wanted to learn more about these artists and looked up their work, seeing what an impact they had on the author.
This was a very impactful, passionate and powerful book. It is one that will stay with me as an intense reminder of the joy and pain of living, the strength and fragility of the human body.