Customer Reviews

What Her Body Thought

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I found this book to be one of, if not *the* best book I have ever read on the subject of illness. Susan Griffin writes from experience, and yet manages to write an objective, thoughtful book on illness and what it means to society. Although New Age prides itself in having escaped the restrictive judgments of past centuries, and mind/body philosophies and metaphysics portray themselves as more enlightened, Susan exposes the underlying hypothesis for what it is--the same old moralism: "If you think the right thoughts, you won't be ill." "You are ill because there is something for you to learn." We still want to believe, she points out, that we are greater than Nature, that we are in control. Yet, anyone who has had a chronic or severe illness knows how very little control we do have. Perhaps, after all, New Age is just another way of dealing with the knowledge that someday, no matter how good we are, we all will suffer and die.

As a sufferer of CIFIDS, I found it wonderful to read about someone else's experiences with the disease, and to know that the things I experience are not in my head, after all. Griffin's book brought tears to my eyes more than once, as her comparison of her experiences to those of Marie Duplessis is both beautiful and painful. This book had a powerful effect on me, one that I can't really put in words. All I can say is: Thank You!

This is one of the most eloquent books I have read on the subject of chronic illness, in particular chronic illness which is not easily identified: "invisible illness, Susan calls it. She writes with authority because she has walked in those shoes. When standing in line and feeling totally exhausted because of her illness, another woman is wheeled to the front of the line in a wheelchair. Thus the perfect illustration of the difficulty. She uses the classic Dumas novel "Camille" to illustrate the status of the sufferer, and the reaction of those surrounding her. This is a book of perspective, and one that should be read by anyone in the caring professions, and anyone with a loved one who has an "invisible" illness.