I really struggled with this book, and with how to rate it. I decided to take it down to one star, because the impression this book ultimately left meI really struggled with this book, and with how to rate it. I decided to take it down to one star, because the impression this book ultimately left me with was anger.
O'Rourke's depiction of chronic illness is very strong in the first half of the book, but gets repetitive towards the end. Part of me wants to write that off because of the inherently cyclical nature of chronic illness, but I think my boredom towards the end was partly because the writing grew weaker, and partly because of my anger (we'll get to that...).
She writes with thoughtfulness and empathy about the challenges of living with chronic illness, especially without a diagnosis. I found these parts of the book impactful - I had an undiagnosed chronic illness for years, I'm currently sitting with a "maybe" diagnosis that won't become definitive until I literally need surgery – and they were by miles O'Rourke's strongest writing.
BUT. A very big but. I could not get over the credulity she lends to snake oil. Supplements on supplements on supplements, IVs, natropaths, functional doctors... The list goes on and on, but it belongs on the Goop website, not in an award-winning book. Supplements can be good! So can functional doctors! Etc. etc. etc. But what was presented in this book gave far too much credence to medically questionable advice, practices, and procedures. Then there's the treatment of mental illness, which I found dismissive and medically inaccurate.
I understand, intimately, the vulnerability you feel as a patient without a diagnosis. A diagnosis, even a bad one, feels like a step in the right direction. It's a defined problem rather than an amorphous one. You can point to it and say: there, that is what's wrong. Even in causing pain, it can bring relief. The search for that specific kind of relief can very easily turn dark. This could have been a book that focused on unpacking the unique vulnerability of people with undiagnosed chronic illnesses. There are MANY collections of symptoms that have no easily diagnosable source, and patients who experience them deserve greater care from the medical establishment (and don't even get me started on insurance companies...). This could have been a book that really dug into how a lack of diagnosis can lead to believing a hell of a lot of medical quackery. But it doesn't.
O'Rourke touches on that vulnerability just enough for plausible deniability, but the conclusion of the book reinforces the idea that the dubious medical advice she sought and followed was in fact the best, if imperfect, course.
This is an incredibly haunting graphic novel series. I would say it's closer to horror than any other genre, so for me to give this three stars is somThis is an incredibly haunting graphic novel series. I would say it's closer to horror than any other genre, so for me to give this three stars is something! (Horror is just not for me...). At first the art style threw me off a bit, but that's really just because it was unlike any graphic novel I've read before. There are some issues with world-building, but that's mostly because the world is just SOOO complex. Once you start to get a feel for things, you really dive in. Unfortunately, the first third of the book felt quite distant because so much new world-building was thrown at you so consistently.
Really excited to pick up Vol. 2!
Merged review:
This is an incredibly haunting graphic novel series. I would say it's closer to horror than any other genre, so for me to give this three stars is something! (Horror is just not for me...). At first the art style threw me off a bit, but that's really just because it was unlike any graphic novel I've read before. There are some issues with world-building, but that's mostly because the world is just SOOO complex. Once you start to get a feel for things, you really dive in. Unfortunately, the first third of the book felt quite distant because so much new world-building was thrown at you so consistently.
This is an incredibly haunting graphic novel series. I would say it's closer to horror than any other genre, so for me to give this three stars is somThis is an incredibly haunting graphic novel series. I would say it's closer to horror than any other genre, so for me to give this three stars is something! (Horror is just not for me...). At first the art style threw me off a bit, but that's really just because it was unlike any graphic novel I've read before. There are some issues with world-building, but that's mostly because the world is just SOOO complex. Once you start to get a feel for things, you really dive in. Unfortunately, the first third of the book felt quite distant because so much new world-building was thrown at you so consistently.
This was really interesting! It's a thorough examination of a few niche areas of military science, but not much else. It's doesn't really try to conteThis was really interesting! It's a thorough examination of a few niche areas of military science, but not much else. It's doesn't really try to contextualize that science within the broader American Machine of War, which is its great shortcoming.
I understand that Roach's avoidance of reckoning with the bloody, exploitative legacy of the American military was probably because that is almost too large to grapple with. But the entire lack of that context left me feeling... Not Great....more
Loading...
