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Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

Susannah Cahalan

Why we're reading this: This young woman gets hit by a mysterious illness that takes her sanity and almost her life. I know a lot…more
[close] This young woman gets hit by a mysterious illness that takes her sanity and almost her life. I know a lot of Spoonies can relate all too well with her story!

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Dec 16, 2022 Stacey Kay rated it liked it · review of another edition

EDIT: I wanted to commend the author for including and sharing the way one doctor dismissed her illness as self-inflicted. This happens to women far too often, and confronting the challenges of being ignored by the medical system is nearly impossible on an individual basis. By sharing our stories and bringing awareness to the problem, hopefully we can continue to chip away at it.

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Although I relate to some components of Cahalan’s experiences on a visceral level, reading first-hand accounts of ho ...more

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Oct 08, 2018 Jenny Whetzel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I've had this book for a while now, just chose to read other things first. I saw this movie on Netflix and knew I had to read it as soon as I could. Wow. Such an amazing sad story. I wish I would have read this when I originally purchased it. ...more

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Dec 17, 2023 Samantha Shelby rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, reviewed

The medical mystery was interesting, but the author, as is to be expected in a memoir, was annoyingly self-absorbed. I mostly disliked Susannah as a narrator because of her tendency to wallow in self-pity and her obsession with reminding us that she likes Ryan Adams. She and her parents were also unnecessarily rude to anyone who showed any kind of concern and were downright nasty to innocent ignorance. I find the family arrogant and insufferable. The movie was better.

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