It’s a well-written, well-researched, and painfully honest story about working through complex medical conditions. I think like Quiet in a way, it also helps bring further into the mainstream something that people with chronic health conditions have been saying forever: take us and our pain seriously, but don’t you dare define our whole being by it. O’Rourke also does a wonderful job of integrating her personal narrative with criticisms of how cultures comprehend illness, as well as the unequal politics of treatment. That’s what makes it my kind of self-help book: it’s not just things you can do, but how broader perceptions and actions are linked to the transformation. That’s an interesting question. There must be a good book out there on the value of awareness for changing conditions. I know some of the book builds on arguments in Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor from 1978, which has been somewhat widely read, so I would guess that like many things this is not a straight line of progress but a constant chipping away. Part of it is also that habits of assumption are deeply engrained, and, while awareness can make a difference, it may not always hit the depth of the habit. That’s why we keep working on ourselves beyond reading the book.
"It’s a well-written, well-researched, and painfully honest story about working through complex medical conditions. I think like Quiet in a way, it also helps bring further into the mainstream something that people with chronic health conditions have been saying forever: take us and our pain seriously, but don’t you dare define our whole being by it. O’Rourke also does a wonderful job of integrating her personal narrative with criticisms of how cultures comprehend illness, as well as the unequal politics of treatment. That’s what makes it my kind of self-help book: it’s not just things you can do, but how broader perceptions and actions are linked to the transformation. That’s an interesting question. There must be a good book out there on the value of awareness for changing conditions. I know some of the book builds on arguments in Susan Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor from 1978, which has been somewhat widely read, so I would guess that like many things this is not a straight line of progress but a constant chipping away. Part of it is also that habits of assumption are deeply engrained, and, while awareness can make a difference, it may not always hit the depth of the habit. That’s why we keep working on ourselves beyond reading the book."
"Shortly after graduating from college, Meghan O’Rourke began experiencing sharp, stabbing pains – almost like electric shocks or tiny beestings – up and down her arms and legs. In the decades that followed, the stings would mysteriously flare up or fade away, as would a host of other debilitating symptoms, including extreme fatigue, brain fog and chronic pain. O’Rourke shuffled between specialists and spent thousands of dollars on treatment before finally getting a diagnosis. The Invisible Kingdom is O’Rourke’s lyrical account reckoning with her own body – and with a health care system that overlooks and gaslights Americans living with autoimmune disorders. A finalist for the National Book Award, this is a particularly resonant read as the nation untangles the lingering symptoms of long COVID."
