I have had this book on my TBR for so many years it’s ridiculous. The worst part is that it’s been one that I’ve really wanted to read the entire time it’s been there. I finally got around to it thanks to being on a bit of a medical memoir kick at the moment, and am so pleased to finally be able to mark it as read!
This is the story of a young woman who is on the cusp of a major development in her career as a cub reporter at a major New York newspaper, when she suddenly begins to exhibit increasingly worrying symptoms of a disease that no one can name. Within a few weeks of her first symptoms she has been hospitalized. She spends a month under the care of a growing team of specialists, none of whom are able to figure out what is wrong with her. This is a month she does not remember.
I’m not going to tell you exactly what happens or what is wrong with her, because I do feel that you’re best discovering that as you dive in to keep some suspense going. All you need to know is that it takes a long time and several doctors giving up before someone finally has an idea of where to even start looking for answers.
This book is interesting, precisely because it’s a personal memoir written by someone who has no recollection of the events she’s reporting on. Most of the information she provides about her time in the hospital is based on talking to friends and family members who were there with her, and poring over her hospital records.
I found this story fascinating. I love medical mysteries (one of my favourite TV shows of all time is House) and this one is no exception. For the most part I thought it was well-written, and you can definitely see Cahalan’s reporting background put to good use.
That said, it wasn’t perfect. There were some points when the writing didn’t quite work for me because of awkward word choices or odd imagery. It also felt clunky when she was talking about what someone near her had felt during certain parts of her illness. It’s one thing for her to relay what they told her happened, but it was as if she trying to jump into other people’s heads rather than inserting a quote or passage allowing them to tell the reader themselves, and that didn’t work for me. It’s a great example of a book where the content surpassed the writing, but the writing did its job in getting the story across serviceably. She was dealing with a lot of limitations and managed to work around them well most of the time.
I think partly because of the imperfections in the writing style and partly because her own memory of the events she’s recounting is nonexistent, I had more trouble connecting emotionally to the story than I have with other similar books. It probably also suffered from being read so close on the heals of My Lovely Wife In the Psych Ward, which I connected to on a very deep level.
I’m glad I finally read this book, because if nothing else, it does draw attention to a disease that is incredibly hard to diagnose accurately, and I believe this book has helped other patients get a life-saving diagnosis. I commend Cahalan for using her own story to get this information out there, and I think that given her limitations, she produced a book that is well worth your time to read. If you’re interested in medical conundrums like me, or if you have been through your own medical trauma, I think this book is one you will be grateful to find.
An award-winning memoir and instant New York Times bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, Brain on Fire is the powerful account of one woman’s struggle to recapture her identity.
When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family’s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn’t happen.– Goodreads
Book Title: Brain On Fire
Author: Susannah Cahalan
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audio
Published By: Simon Schuster/Audible
Narrated By: Heather Henderson
Released: August 6, 2013 (first published November 13, 2012)
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Medical
Pages: 266
Date Read: May 1-17, 2019
Rating: 7/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.04/5 (139,148 ratings)