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A review by juniperd
The Empathy Exams: Essays by Leslie Jamison
5.0
i feel like it's going to be very hard for me to write a good review of this collection. so if this is a hot, rambling mess -- sorry!!
i am a fan of leslie jamison. her novel [b:The Gin Closet|6949239|The Gin Closet|Leslie Jamison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1261861457s/6949239.jpg|7183502] really was a stellar read for me, so i was stoked for this collection. some of the essays, many of them, had previously been published online or in magazines, but having them all together is great.
to quote from robert polito, "...the span of topics Jamison tosses up is correspondingly smashing and wondrous: medical actors, sentimentality, violence, plastic surgery, guilt, diseases, the Barkley Marathons, stylish "ex-votos" for exemplary artists, incarceration, wounds, scars, fear, yearning, community, and the mutations of physical pain."
there's some pretty heavy stuff here. most of it was fascinating. while i was most interested in jamison's writings on empathy, illness and pain, i was really absorbed in, say, the essay on the marathon. but, really, each of her essays is anchored by the idea of empathy, or can be tied into that idea without much difficulty.
jamison seems to be highly self-aware which, for this book, is a good thing. i think without her moments of recognition on this front, i could have easily felt there was far too much self-absorption going on. or jockeying for angles. everything, it seems, is fodder. i had empathy, at times during the read, feeling certain people in her stories were being used. they were a means to an end. so, as much as i loved the book - and rated it highly - i had challenging moments. they didn't really come into play, though, until the very last essay: Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain (which you can read online here; it's a longread, so be aware). this is quite the essay, but it also hit deeply and personally for me. i found myself feeling defensive or critical at moments, while feeling exhausted, sad, sympathetic, and empathetic for pretty much all womankind.
i also have to give total props to jamison for including ponderings about [a:Lucy Grealy|57229|Lucy Grealy|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383238381p2/57229.jpg] and her book [b:Autobiography of a Face|534255|Autobiography of a Face|Lucy Grealy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386921470s/534255.jpg|95778].
so those are my thoughts right now, as i try to just get something down here.
i am a fan of leslie jamison. her novel [b:The Gin Closet|6949239|The Gin Closet|Leslie Jamison|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1261861457s/6949239.jpg|7183502] really was a stellar read for me, so i was stoked for this collection. some of the essays, many of them, had previously been published online or in magazines, but having them all together is great.
to quote from robert polito, "...the span of topics Jamison tosses up is correspondingly smashing and wondrous: medical actors, sentimentality, violence, plastic surgery, guilt, diseases, the Barkley Marathons, stylish "ex-votos" for exemplary artists, incarceration, wounds, scars, fear, yearning, community, and the mutations of physical pain."
there's some pretty heavy stuff here. most of it was fascinating. while i was most interested in jamison's writings on empathy, illness and pain, i was really absorbed in, say, the essay on the marathon. but, really, each of her essays is anchored by the idea of empathy, or can be tied into that idea without much difficulty.
jamison seems to be highly self-aware which, for this book, is a good thing. i think without her moments of recognition on this front, i could have easily felt there was far too much self-absorption going on. or jockeying for angles. everything, it seems, is fodder. i had empathy, at times during the read, feeling certain people in her stories were being used. they were a means to an end. so, as much as i loved the book - and rated it highly - i had challenging moments. they didn't really come into play, though, until the very last essay: Grand Unified Theory of Female Pain (which you can read online here; it's a longread, so be aware). this is quite the essay, but it also hit deeply and personally for me. i found myself feeling defensive or critical at moments, while feeling exhausted, sad, sympathetic, and empathetic for pretty much all womankind.
i also have to give total props to jamison for including ponderings about [a:Lucy Grealy|57229|Lucy Grealy|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1383238381p2/57229.jpg] and her book [b:Autobiography of a Face|534255|Autobiography of a Face|Lucy Grealy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1386921470s/534255.jpg|95778].
so those are my thoughts right now, as i try to just get something down here.