Customer Reviews

Sweet Invisible Body: Reflections on a Life with Diabetes

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ms. Roney's beautifully written memoir describes all too accurately what it is like to be at once separate from one's chronic illness and yet aware that separating oneself from the disease is impossible. I found the book's reflections on how diabetes affected every aspect of her life to be right on target, and I identified with much of what she said. I love the prose, too, and have recommended the book to friends, healthy and otherwise!

Lisa Roney is astonishingly on-target with her story of life with diabetes. I have had Type 1 diabetes for over 20 years. I can relate to much of what she said in her book. Ms. Roney clearly captures the pain of life with a chronic disease. I think people who are long-term diabetics will get the most from her book. Absolutely terrific!

Thank you Lisa Roney for making those of us with type I juvenile diabetes feel like people again instead of a statistic!! I was diagnosed at the age of 13 and after having diabetes for 16 years, I have to say reading this book has made me feel less alone. Never thought I'd ever be able to say that. Your writing and honesty is very real.

Lisa Roney captures beautifully how it feels to be a pre-teen diagnosed with a chronic disease. I, too, was twelve when I started taking insulin. In fact, the trials she experiences with her diabetes very closely parallel what I have also gone through. However, I found the incredibly whiny nature of the discourse very hard to take. It truly does seem as if she blames all of her disappointments in life on her disease. I don't feel that this book would be inspiring or even helpful to someone recently diagnosed with diabetes. I know very few people, chronic disease or not, who are so mired in their own self-absorptive depression. Also, what the heck is all that strange cataloging of her friends, her boyfriends, the detailed contents of her apartment, etc.? The book started out wonderfully, then digressed into a long, rambling whine. I personally feel sorry that Ms. Roney has had such a bad time of it, but I just can't empathize. And this is despite the fact that countless times I have gone though every single diabetes-associated malady that she describes, and then some.

The author set out, beyond all else, to tell the truth about herself, as best she could. The fundamental truthfulness of her account, taken as a whole, gives it a value that transcends any of the shortcomings of content or rhetoric identified by reviewers here and elsewhere. Readers who want to hear that diabetes is no big deal, if managed properly, will not find this book to their liking. Nor will those who prefer stories with unambiguous endings or heroic triumphs, or those who value women, and people generally, only when they are gracious and accommodating, or, in other words, "sweet." Others like myself, who have lived with, worked with, loved, and truly known diabetics (and women) regarded as "difficult" will find much that is familiar, and probably much they value. I wish I could give it more than five stars.

Like Lisa, I have had diabetes since I was 12 and take multiple shots a day. I enjoyed reading a book from someone who also had juvenile diabetes. Many times, I find books on "how to deal with diabetes," or "how to 'fix' my diabetes," when it can't be fixed. There is no cure. This book was therapeutic, in that I was able to relate to the struggles which she has gone through. I think Lisa goes a bit overboard with blaming her diabetes for everything which happens in her life. I appreciate her willingness to share her feelings and perspective as an insulin-dependent diabetic.

I thought this book was a very real and true account of someone living with Juvenile Diabetes. I like the fact that the author touches on the emotions and anger of the disease. It is just not a book about eating right and taking insulin. It goes deeper than that. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 11 and I am now 19. This book closely relates to what I had to go through and what I am still experiencing.It made me feel that I am not the only one. When reading this I became more comfortable with my diabetes. It really helped me evalute my feelings about having a chronic illness.

Anyone who wants to know what living with Diabetes is like (especially Type I) should read this book. I found the book hard to read at times because it brought so much feeling that I wasn't expecting.

I have Type I Diabetes, & for years and years ALL the books about diabetes were about food, food, and oh yeah, here's what you have to do to try to avoid complications--I could never find anything that discussed how diabetes makes you feel. This and "Needles" fill the void. It's about time.

This book talks A LOT about how diabetes makes you FEEL. It reminded me of "An Autobiography of a Face" & "Needles," because she focused on how diabetes affected her personal identity.

I have been a type1 diabetic for 32 years. I found the stuff Lisa went through to have a lot of parallels in my own life, and I was also an art major in college, and like horses. The isolation, people who think you're lazy when you're actually exhausted, the high and low blood sugar levels, the decrepancy between having a deadly disease and looking "normal", and feeling like you're different from everyone else seem to be things that all type 1 diabetics have in common. She has a brilliant way with words that make her book so descriptive of these things. Everyone who knows or is a type 1 diabetic should read this book!

Although melodramatic at times, like the disease, Roney accurately captures the "feelings" side of living with and rebelling against diabetes. I plan to share this book with friends and family to explain how important it is to discuss the emotional effect of diabetes on the lives of diabetics and their families. I loved the title's irony.