A History of the Present Illness - Softcover

Aronson, Louise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1620400073 ISBN 13: 9781620400074

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2014

Synopsis

A History of the Present Illness takes readers into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in America today. An elderly Chinese immigrant sacrifices his demented wife's well-being to his son's authority. A busy Latina physician's eldest daughter's need for more attention has disastrous consequences. A young veteran's injuries become a metaphor for the rest of his life. A gay doctor learns very different lessons about family from his life and his work. And a psychiatrist who advocates for the underserved may herself be crazy. Together, these honest and compassionate stories introduce a striking new literary voice and provide a view of what it means to be a doctor and a patient unlike anything we've read before.

In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social relevance. Masterfully told, A History of the Present Illness explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human.

About this title

Product Description:

Rare Book

Review:

The human insight medicine brings can form masters of the short story. Louise Aronson proves it again ... These are tales about people, as insightful as Lorrie Moore or Alice Munro (Independent)

A less cute, more truthful version of Grey's Anatomy (Kirkus)

Some of the most startling and memorable stories I've ever read . A fascinating study of our fragile human condition, both physical and emotional. Here is a writer - and a doctor - whose empathy for her people, her characters, springs forth on every page (Peter Orner, author of Love and Shame and Love)

I devoured the stories . each one is written with a beautifully precise balance of clarity and insight. She combines a doctor's eye with a writer's heart (Elizabeth Day, author of Scissors, Paper, Stone)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1620400073
• ISBN 13: 9781620400074
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272