Customer Reviews

At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness

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Arthur Frank doesn't deny any aspect of his experience, and through his demonstration of bare-bones honesty and self acceptance, I connected with myself, which is where the answers, if there are any, are to be found.

I saw my own fear of cancer patients played out on these pages, and I recalled with anguish the number of times I disappeared from the lives of people I cared about because I was so afraid of their disease, their pain and the possibility that they'd die.

...and I also saw the ways in which I've protected myself from my own fear of cancer by wondering what it was in their psyches that caused them to be stricken by this terrible disease.

... and I saw how frightened I've been to be present in my own body. His honesty gave me the courage to change, and I'm incredibly grateful.

Patti Harada, Tucson, AZ.

This was one of the best books I have read in the course of my dissertation work. I'd say it is a must read for anyone in the health care profession, as well as patients battling chronic symptoms. The book is a reminder that we need to remember the PERSON who is the patient.

I have helped train family practice physicians and I have used the play "W;T" to try and sensitize young physicians to the viewpoint of the patient. I was asked to read this book for a graduate course in spirituality and healing called: Suffering and Hope. I found it even better than "W;T" for training purposes. I think it should be required reading for all medical students and residents. Physicians are much more than just technicians trained to "fix" bodies. The viewpoint of the author was most helpful in suggesting ways to approach a very difficult situation. I have ordered copies for friends who are suffering from cancer that it may help them on their journey!

This is a gripping book about the author's experiences living with serious illness, including cancer, and how this puts us in touch with what it means to be human. It's challenging reading, given the author's frequent but effective use of metaphors to express his thoughts.

M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled, says: "Arthur Frank's book is a dramatic contribution to our lives. It not only challenges many of our cherished assumptions about health and illness, life and death, but does so with authentic power. This is a major contribution to society."

Frank talks about the ordeal of being transformed from person into patient--a territory, as he puts it, that is colonized by the medical profession, and claimed as their own. He recounts mourning his past good health, the loneliness, the pain, and an arrival at wonderment over the body, in spite of its failings. He feels it is extremely important for the patient to tell the rest of us what he or she has learned about the value of life, and it is equally important for the rest of us to listen.

He puts the reader in touch with our deepest fears about dying, and points the way toward a peaceful coming to grips with our own mortality, and the uncertainty we will have for the rest of our lives, even if in remission, once we've had cancer. He states: "Part of the fear of dying is realizing all that I have not done or have not done enough of. As long as life remains a recovery, I try to seize the life I someday want to have lived. The value of remaining a person with cancer is to keep asking the question: If I get sick again, what will I tell myself about the way I spent my life since I found out that I was mortal?" Strongly recommended.

I recommend this book to my patients all the time. My own copy is almost completely highlighted. Dr. Frank gives such insight into his own patient experience and from a medical sociologist's perspective!

Abby Caplin, MD, MA, San Francisco, CA

For anyone who is ill or anyone who is accompanying someone else on this journey, this book is invaluable. Richly illuminating and enlightening about what it means to be facing a life threatening illness. It is enormously helpful and reassuring to read of someone facing this head on without the current and dismissive "just have a positive attitude". it is engrossing and a life changing book. I cannot recommend highly enough.

An expedient read, clearly written and insightful. This is a work that begins to rival those of Wendy Lustbader. Well done.

Arthur W. Frank's book, At the Will of the Body: Reflections on Illness, is a pilgrimage through the author's struggle with a heart attack and cancer. His experiences, insights, treatments, along with his wife's support are by no means examples of the average person's struggle with illnesses. Frank, a college professor, comes across as a self-centered elitest and as a patient who was critical of his health care. Upon reflection, I am amazed by his wife's dedication to him as he progressed through his illnesses, especially cancer.