Sick: A Memoir
(Harper Perennial, $16)
“Sick isn’t written like a manifesto, but it is one,” said Lidija Haas in The New Yorker. Porochista Khakpour, a novelist and university lecturer, has been plagued for years by an illness, or combination of illnesses, for which she often has had no name. Dizziness, fainting, all-over aches, depression, a need for a cane—such have been her symptoms. Only recently has the 40-year-old author been able to have confidence that she has chronic Lyme disease, a problematic diagnosis in itself. But while another writer might respond by constructing a tightly argued polemic, “it can seem that Khakpour is daring the reader to find her draining, histrionic, inconsistent.” That feels intentional: “She is making the case that nobody should have to be a reliable narrator in order to receive basic respect and compassionate treatment.”