A review by dlberglund
Ask Me about My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain by Abby Norman

3.0

Abby's struggles with pain and the medical establishment were horrible. Doctors' refusal to listen to her symptoms and take her seriously were the norm more than 100 years ago, and it rips me part that she continues to have these experiences. The amount of research she has done on women's reproductive systems and the history of sexism in medical science is commendable and interesting. But (and you knew that was coming), that all doesn't actually make this a great science book or a great memoir. It's too disjointed (her timeline is all over the place), and the ending was completely frustrating. Spoiler ahead....It seems that she developed additional frightening symptoms while writing this book about her (very recent) past/present symptoms, and the last chapters are consumed by her trying to figure out what the new symptoms are from--and failing to do so. So this is now part medical mystery as well, and I was very frustrated by that. I'm sure she is as well-she didn't ask for new debilitating symptoms while writing a book!-- but it derailed the narrative. (It does bring home the point that doctors STILL don't listen to her. Seriously, she should consider moving to another town. Or state, but no offense, Maine.) There's so much in the book about her personal (traumatic) history, and there's a lot going on in her life besides her endometriosis. I definitely learned things, and felt empathy and sympathy and frustration for her, but overall it didn't come together for me as a coherent book.