"Notes Made While Falling" by Jenn Ashworth

Memoir, essay and literary analysis blend in this non-fiction book. Mainly it's about the author's horrific medical experiences and all of how life changes afterwards having to bear those memories. But it's also about literature, writing, self-reflection, fear, mental health, fragility, the general portrayal of sickness. It's kind of a complicated net thrown outwards, as far as it can reach while standing on the rock of medical trauma, and then pulling it back inwards. She shows us what's caught in the net and how it relates to each other. I had to take a break from reading this book in the week before a medical procedure, because it was really pushing those medical trauma buttons for me. It's hard to deal with pain, complications and not being taken seriously, especially once you're powerless, sedated, paralyzed, or otherwise choiceless, stuck in the hands of medical personnel that can help or break you -or both at once. The essays have satisfying structures and are really well…