Thanks for pointing us to Altman's essay, and to the book it's reviewing. As the essay points out, writing about chronic illness is abundant, but writing that captures the complexity and ambiguity of the experience of illness is difficult to find. The review reminds me of a quote I love from David Shields on James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - "I’m interested in the ways in which stories of suffering might be used to mask other, less marketable stories of suffering."
Thanks for pointing us to Altman's essay, and to the book it's reviewing. As the essay points out, writing about chronic illness is abundant, but writing that captures the complexity and ambiguity of the experience of illness is difficult to find. The review reminds me of a quote I love from David Shields on James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces" - "I’m interested in the ways in which stories of suffering might be used to mask other, less marketable stories of suffering."