Customer Reviews

Stories from the Infirmary

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Virginia Woolf predicted that some day the world of illness would become one of the major topics of literature. In "Stories from the Infirmary" that time has arrived. These stories and poems are literature at its best; real, interesting and enlightening. The contributors to this collection are not a bunch of sick people feeling sorry for themselves. They are people fighting for their lives, their loves, their dignity and sanity. The issues at stake here are those at stake in each of our lives, ill or well. Will a partner continue to love inspite of disability? Can joy be found even if one has to receive blood transfusions? How do you share a parent's or a child's disintegration? Courageous is the word I would use to desecribe these people. These works are full of wonder as much as they are honest about pain. This book is extremely well written and powerful.

In this engaging collection of fiction and poetry by and about the chronically ill, you get intimate with a number of characters who will haunt you for weeks to come. This book will disturb you; the characters in this collection will call you into the terrifying worlds of MS, chemo, post traumatic stress disorder, shattered bones, icy-cold doctors, indifferent spouses, and underskilled medical teams,and hang on to you until you know what it is they feel and why--yet when all is said and done and contrary to what you might think, you will be left uplifted.

If any part of these stories moves you to insist that the medical and social services communities treat the chronically ill with more compassion and humanity, then those who contributed to this wonderful collection have done what they set out to do. If any part of these stories makes you take a look at how family, friends, caregivers, doctors, nurses, social workers and others unwittingly dehumanize the chronically ill, then the contributors have been successful. If, after finishing this book, you can remember that the chronically ill person is human and deserves to be hugged, touched, kissed, made love to, complimented and told when their behavior seems unreasonable or detrimental to their health, no matter what their phyical condition, and still treat them with love and compassion, then the contributors have made a difference. A must read for social workers, doctors, nurses, or anyone who cares about the chronically ill!

After my best friend got diagnosed with kidney failure, I searched for a book on dialysis and kidney transplants from the patient's point of view and was disappointed to find almost nothing. Somebody told me about this book and the poem "Obituary" by Hortensia Anderson. It and the other poems and stories had a very humbling effect on me. A lot of the book deals with cancer and although the writing is great, I have a lot of books on that (from my father's lung cancer)and want to find more on dialysis especially. I enjoyed reading the whole book and recommend it to anybody.

I didn't want to read this book, but it was assigned for a class so I had to and I am so glad that I did have to because it made me think AND it made me laugh. Stories has both prose and poetry and I was excited to find one of my favorite internet poets Hortensia Anderson (who I found on the internet)who did an obituary to her transplant. The editing is wonderful and has many wonderful offerings. Don't miss John Penn's stories about his chemotherapy either. You won't believe it but you will laugh.

A book that reminds me of the Sufi saying, "If I can get through this life without dying, I'll be amazed." Editor Carol Wierzbicki tells her own tale of the relationship triangulation between lover-caregiver, medical-caregiver, and fatally ill patient. One interesting poem by Hortensia Anderson mourns the loss of a transplanted kidney. I only wish there had been more.

We will all have to deal with sickness and death in all of our lives. I have often found myself trying without success to imagine Kristan Ryan and her dealings with ms, John Penn fighting 2 battles at once - cancer and AIDs, Hortensia Anderson and a life on a dialysis machine. All because of a book I bought on the suggestion of a friend with fibromyalgia. There are many lessons to be learned from STORIES - I have had the privilege of a life not yet touched with sickness. But all of the poets and writers in STORIES by disclosing theirs, humbles me. STORIES is not at all preachy - the purpose seems simply to wake us up and make us aware. This, it does without technical jargon nor self-pity. STORIES is a heart-wrenching and truly elegant book.

Stories this side of gonzo, about chemo, MS, and just plain messed-upness. Rx: Read twice a day.

Execellent editing by Carol Wierzbicki. Great writing by Kristan Ryan, Tsaurah Litzky and others.

Just plain great writing