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Sick cover art

Sick

Written by: Porochista Khakpour
Narrated by: Yetta Gottesman
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Publisher's Summary

Boston Globe's 25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018

Buzzfeed's 33 Most Exciting New Books

Bustle’s 28 Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2018 list

Nylon’s 50 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018

Electric Literature’s 46 Books to Read By Women of Color in 2018

Huffington Post’s 60 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018

Bitch’s 30 Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2018

The Rumpus’s What to Read When 2018 Is Just Around the Corner

Vol.1 Brooklyn’s 23 for 2018: A Literary Preview for the Year to Come

The Millions Most Anticipated 2018 List

Auto Straddle Most Anticipated 2018 Preview

The Coil's Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018

In the tradition of Brain on Fire and Darkness Visible, an honest, beautifully rendered memoir of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction, and the myth of full recovery that details author Porochista Khakpour's struggles with late-stage Lyme disease.

For as long as writer Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. For most of that time, she didn't know why. All of her trips to the ER and her daily anguish, pain, and lethargy only ever resulted in one question: How could any one person be this sick? Several drug addictions, three major hospitalizations, and over $100,000 later, she finally had a diagnosis: late-stage Lyme disease.

Sick is Khakpour's arduous, emotional journey - as a woman, a writer, and a lifelong sufferer of undiagnosed health problems - through the chronic illness that perpetually left her a victim of anxiety, living a life stymied by an unknown condition.

Divided by settings, Khakpour guides the reader through her illness by way of the locations that changed her course - New York, LA, New Mexico, and Germany - as she meditates on both the physical and psychological impacts of uncertainty, and the eventual challenge of accepting the diagnosis she had searched for over the course of her adult life. With candor and grace, she examines her subsequent struggles with mental illness, her addiction to the benzodiazepines prescribed by her psychiatrists, and her ever-deteriorating physical health.

A story about survival, pain, and transformation, Sick is a candid, illuminating narrative of hope and uncertainty, boldly examining the deep impact of illness on one woman's life.

©2018 Porochista Khakpour (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Sick

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A little Bland

I struggled to finish this. I didnt find it overly exciting. To each there own. this is only my opinion

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun to listen to

This was an actually great book to listen to. I must say there were parts of the story that I felt are stretched unnecessarily and there were also [arts were I felt too much is revealed in advance. But if I were to buy it again, I'd do that. If you are someone or have someone who battles with Lyme, this would definitely provide some insights and also gives some hope. #Audible1

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • AL
  • 2019-06-03

For women whose symptoms have been ignored

Navigating the often complex medical landscape is frustrating enough. To all the women who have gone from doctors office to doctors office and had their health issues not taken seriously, ignored, or gaslit by medical specialist who think they know better, then this book is not only a comfort but a revelation.
You do not need to be an academic or suffer from Lyme to find yourself mirrored in the author.
An exceptional memoir written in a style that is both arresting and calming. Truly captivating
I highly recommend

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Where am I?

The story bounced around a lot so that it wasn't clear what period of her life she was describing. I'm not familiar with the authors fiction. Maybe if I loved her books, I would love this memoir. Then, in the way she writes her story, she reveals some aspects of her worldview that weren't attractive to me. Her kind of feminism is the whiny kind and not the thoughtful kind. Maybe I'll try her fiction, and then I'll like her. She's a bit obnoxious in this book.

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