RaveHippocampusA refreshingly ambitious memoir ... Jamison writes about her deepest longings in a way that makes us acutely feel our own. This is memoir at its best ... Anyone facing a pivotal life change, or who is struggling to parse through the aftermath of one, can benefit from reading this memoir.
Theresa Brown
PositiveChicago Review of BooksBrown invites her reader on a roving path which oscillates between two timelines ... It’s crucial to mention that Brown does always get the answers she needs eventually, either by calling up powerful people in her healthcare network, or her husband, to tug the strings for her. I would’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the perks of being a white, college-educated, upper middle-class woman with access to the inner workings of the healthcare system addressed more explicitly. Especially since Brown delves into the intersectionalities of care, addressing the inequities that arise in America for poor people, Black people, and poor Black people ... Given all her analysis of modern healthcare’s shortcomings, the issue could’ve been pushed further ... Brown’s strengths shine in the re-creation of scenes, where her nursing identity comes to life through dialogue and patient-as-character descriptions ... She’s also skilled at owning up to her own humanity, saying that while people failed her when she was a patient, she also failed patients when she was a nurse ... Brown never fails to reveal her own humanity. Healing is a book not only for breast cancer patients and their loved ones, but for anyone else who cares about caring. Most importantly, Brown shows us the importance of perspective.
