Customer Reviews

Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Right from the beginning,and I'm talking about the Preface,I was drawn into Ben Watt's story. His story is one of a human condition that can also be so dehumanizing. Very ill he spends months in the hospitals,in pain,undiagnosed,unable to eat, and having surgery upon surgery.
He talks openly(no holds barred) and even at times injects humor,especially into the more humiliating aspects of being in the hospital.He talks about the big stuff, the surgeries,all the tubes coming and going from his body,watching himself shrink down to nothing and the little stuff, how good it felt to take his first shower in weeks, or put on a pair of new shoes and go for a walk OUTSIDE!Things most of us take for granted every day.
We are also let into his everyday thoughts(sometimes while he's on pain killers) about everything going on around him and everything being done to him. He also gives us a glimpse of his life before the illness. He speaks as though his life is passing before his eyes.He senses all the time what his loved one are going through along with him. His girlfriend Tracey always at his side.
Finally diagnosed he assesses what kind of life may lie ahead for Tracey and him.Thank you Ben Watt for sharing your journey with the world.
Even if you have not gone through anything close to this, you will be touched by this story. If you've been through a similar experience or are close to someone who has,this book will give you strength and understanding. It did for me.....Laurie

also recommended:
Kirk Douglas The Ragman's Son An Autobiography

I'll admit I picked this up mostly out of curiosity as a longtime fan of Everything But the Girl. What kept me reading, however, was Ben Watt's skill as a writer. His story is gripping and harrowing, but told with a dry wit and wonderful observations. This book is not just about one man coming to terms with serious illness, but how that experience affected his relationships with his loved ones and his view of himself. This would be a great book for anyone in the health care field to read; it gives you a sense of the patient as a full human being, not just a "problem" to be fixed. Ben Watt's writing skills are as strong as his ample skills as a musician/songwriter. This book has my highest recommendation.

As a longtime fan of EBTG, I read this book when it first came out due to curiosity. I knew nothing about the illness Watt was writing about, had never had any sort of major medical experience myself; just read it to gain more insight into the band. I remember thinking it was a quick, entertaining read and I enjoyed it as a fan. Well, about a little over a year ago I was diagnosed with wegener's granulomatosis and spent 21 hellish days in a hospital, most of which in ICU on a ventilator. Wegener's is very similar to Churgg-Strauss and I was desperate to re-read the book. Reading it again was amazing. I read the whole thing in two days and was stunned at how accurately Watt portrayed the life of a patient with a rare, chronic disease. I found it funny and painful and ultimately very triumphant - I'm dying to discuss the beautiful ending, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone!! I wouldn't call myself sentimental or romantic, but some of the most touching and tender parts of the book came from his description of his relationship with Tracey Thorn. If I can ever find a partner and share that kind of love, I will find myself truly blessed. I will admit I had written some of their songs off as "sappy," but now I find them wonderful and sincere. Watt avoids going into technical details of his illness and never falls into the trappings of melodramatic illness movie of the week storytelling. I think anyone who has dealt with an illness and hospitalization themselves or who wants to know more about Watt, or anyone who simply wants to read a finely crafted story about the human spirit would enjoy this book.

Watt's account of his ordeal is honest and touching. You can feel his pain and upset, you can also experience the love and relief he feels because of those who go through the experience with him. Being ill, he teaches, is not an individual experience. An illness touches all the people in your life and impacts everything around you and you are powerless to controll it. I couldn't stop reading the book. It's writing style is simple and visual-it's an easy read that I would suggest to anyone.

I first became interested in this book several years ago when I read an excerpt of it in the UK magazine "The Face". I'd never listened to any EBTG, but was impressed with Watt's prose. Its clean and Watt has a rare talent for description. Even a sample doesn't capture it. Like, "My eyes feel dry and crispy. Dry autumn leaves. I screw them up, trying to get them to moisten. Dry crunched-up leaves. Broken veins and capillaries. Leaf veins. Like the back of a hand with a torch shone through it...My head is an empty box. My thoughts rattle around, dry crumbs in a kitchen drawer."

In a short book he covers not only his illness and experience in hospital, but also those aspects of his life which sustain him: the confused-but-determined support of his mother, the charming relationship with his hosptial-shy father (successful conversation topics include music, football and sensible footwear). There is also his relationship with his partner and bandmember - Tracey. Watt doesn't give her special treatment and doesn't presume to describe her experience. But his determinedly objective and unsentimental description of the events as they unfold gives you a very good idea of what she must be going through, and it makes for compelling reading.

I read the book in one sitting and stayed up till 4.30am on a work day to finish it, partly to find out what happened to ben, partly to get the next one of the many humourous event that occurred in the Intensive Care Unit, and partly to get another clue as to how Tracey was coping. I feel so throughly drawn into his life I want to know how he and his partner are going ten years after the events in the book.

The nearest book to this that I have read is Oliver Sack's "A Leg to Stand On". I can remember that book quite well, many years afterwards. I think this book is better, and I know I'll remember it for longer.

BTW, if you read the book and you like it, get the best of Everything But the Girl and listen to tracks 1, 2 and 7. They make a great postcript to the book.

I was a fan on EBTG before I picked up this book, and reading this really gave me an insight into why we didn't see them for a bit in the 90's. I'm happy Ben is doing fine today and making music again. The book is written very plainly, absent a plea for pity, and is very gripping. I highly recommend it.

Sad, but not hopeless, biographical account of a young musician stricken with a horrifying illness. Heartfelt & honest without being overly sentimental. Written in a captivating & sometimes humorous tone, not witholding any details. I have been reading this as a physician, and will recommend the book to any young patients I have with grave illnesses.

Nurses, doctors, and other health professionals should all read this book. Often we focus on our own problems and long working hours. This book reinforces the fact that the patient has a 24-hour working day, often unable to sleep, to carry out the smallest activities themselves.

this book is also recommended to the general reader.

I'd been a fan of EBTG for quite awhile before this book came out. Their soothing music has always been a favorite so I was really interested to see what this book was all about.

It turned out to be a very disturbing account of Ben Watt's freak-show illness, blow by blow. His commentary is riveting and one gets the feeling that he does not feel sorry for himself in the least, but instead follows his own story as if he is an observer who also happens to be its main character.

I was heartened to read toward the end of the book Watt's own musings on what may have brought all his health problems about. Though he left it vague, his illness seems to be among those new "diseases of civilization" caused by many factors in our surroundings that lead to hard-to-define ailments where environmental toxicity and the overuse of pharmaceutical medicines are certainly not to be discounted.

In any case it seems that his passion for music transcended all, and was at least in part a contributor to his recovery. Most of all he deserves a thanks for telling his story, unadulterated. For sure it has made this reader not feel so isolated.

The fact that Watt's story lacks a significant plot (outside of the onset, diagnosis, and treatment of his rare condition) is largely forgivable. For those of us who know Watt primarily as a musician/songwriter, the somewhat static storyline here is acceptable. All that's missing from "Patient" is Everything But The Girl's enlightening bed of music to be heard under Ben's delicately articulated prose. Typical of many great songs, Watt occasionally blurs the line between the first- and third-person narration, and "Patient" is better off for it. Perhaps even better than the great writing, though, is the genuine and intimate portal into the lives of Ben and Tracey rarely afforded to EBTG fans. It's a relatively short read, but each page gives plenty to be absorbed as the result of Ben's crafty alliteration and his uncensored, yet careful, approach to the fog of medical lexicon. Not for the weak of heart--or stomach--Watt's book exacts distinct feelings of sobriety and contemplation...with an ending portrait that expertly convey's his trademark understated hope.