A History of Present Illness: A Novel Hardcover – August 16, 2022

Brave, from brutal childhood to the brutal truths of a med student. DEEP WATERS! Here are some quotes:"In psychiatry, for example, hallucination is perception without an object, while illusion is true perception interpreted incorrectly, like seeing tree branches as reaching arms or hearing murmured voices in the susurrus of running water.""Is the delusion of chosen ones, of resurrection, of the reign of an all-knowing sky man somehow less insane if enough of us agree to share it?""The doctors should fear arrogance more than cardiac arrest.""One part told of how the well-meaning soldiers had given the prisoners chocolate and other rations, and the prisoners had been starved so long that eating this actually killed them."It's masterfully written through and through and full of depth, thought, and interesting incidents! Get a copy! It's mesmerizing! LOVE!

Healthcare has changed an immense amount since 1978 when Samuel Shem’s ‘House of God’ showed us a comical but grim portrayal of insensitive care-givers.In a much more personal - and less comic - telling, ‘History’ well captures the creation of medical dehumanization. But it also helps us look at the pressures of medicine from the perspectives of the striving, the dying, the rich, the raped. It’s provocative.Can we treat one another with more dignity? Are we comfortable with our end-of-life plan? Do we have the fortitude to honor others’ plans… and our own?

The book touches your heart, mind and soul as it explores life and death in a hospital. Highly recommend it.

I couldn’t stop reading. Powerful writing.

I bought this book after hearing an interview with the author on NPR and had high hopes. While I persisted through the end, this was a difficult book to read not because of the subject matter but because of the writing. In addition to just very poorly constructed syntax, when did writing dialog without putting said dialog in quotation marks become acceptable? As a first-time novelist, I want to extend grace to the author; littlebrown should have done better for her.

I wish I had read this in print instead of listening to it on Audible. The Audible version was read in a rush and with a sneering tone. It was all wrong for the character. I'm sure this was a great read. Also, I did not know until the closing credits that this was fiction (thought I bought a memoir!) and I was glad. What a harrowing life for someone to have.

I really don't understand when well-known authors rave about a book that I find substandard. I can only guess they are all friends and like to support one another. This book has no plot or structure, it is just a string of progressively more depressing and squirm-inducing anecdotes about the horrors of the healthcare industry. I unfortunately was scheduled for an MRI the day before I read this book, and really wish I had never picked it up. There is no humor or wit, just a constant repetition of horrific stories presented by an author who is clearly obsessed with death, abuse, and horror. When I read at the end that the person who wrote the book was a neurologist herself I thought, that is someone I would definitely steer my business away from. I hope she finds peace somehow.

I really wanted to like this book. My daughter is a neurologist, and I thought it might be especially interesting because I knew some of what she went through in med school. But I came away with two strong feelings: 1. I would never want to be this person’s patient; and 2. I hope she gets some help.