Friday 19 June 2009

NHS Blog Doctor's review of TSoM

Dr Crippen has posted a review of TSoM*. I am pleased that he has responded postively. Dr Crippen finishes his review with: 'It is a balanced, non-didactic account of a young person grappling with a dreadful illness. All doctors will benefit from reading the State of ME. It may make those doctors who are not "believers" pause a while before calling in the psychiatrists.'

Great if other GPs - non-believing - can read the book and change their views. It means the book is doing its job!

Still, I must say I feel a little uneasy that the review has been used as a platform to berate Jodi Hummingbird, whom I have locked horns with in the past over her Amazon review. It seems inappropriate, but that is not my responsibility. And while I am delighted that Dr Crippen has been convinced by Helen's narrative, I think he has conflated Helen/Nasim a bit too readily. The State of Me is Helen Fleet's story, not mine. A lot of my life with ME is not in the book. Presenting my story as fiction was a deliberate and careful choice.

*Dr Crippen took his blog down in March 2010, this post is no longer available as seen on original blog so I've linked to another link.

14 comments:

Cusp said...

Blimey ...well hit me with a kipper ! I think you should have titled your post with banner headlines: 'Dr Crippen gives positive review of TSOM'. Who would have thunk it ?

Honestly, sometimes I just cannot get a measure of this chap or where he really sits on the M.E. fence but I'm pleased he seems to have put some of his prejudice aside to read and properly consider your novel. As you say it is a shame he then uses it to take a swipe at Jodi, who has done a lot of good work and has important stuff to say too...even if we don't always agree.

I think you should go out and treat yourself to a jar of pentopeptides in celebration ;0)

nmj said...

Cusp, You are right, I should treat myself to some pentopeptides! Am really pleased if Dr Crippen's review encourages other GPs to read and learn. Fiction as an educational tool!

willow said...

I believe fiction is one of the most important educational tools there is, since it is non-threatening. One day I hope to read your book NMJ, for now I am trying to recover from flu :)

nmj said...

That is interesting comment, Willow, 'fiction is non-threatening'. I had never thought in those terms, I had thought of fiction - in case of my book - as being distancing, and more accessible for describing illness. Also, just as a by the way, have noticed a lot of people refer to The State of ME, when it is The State of Me!

Hope you recover from flu.

Amy said...

It's great that Dr Crippen has read and been educated by your book! But I do find it disturbing the way he uses the review to have a go at Jodi Hummingbird. I agree that her review of TSoM was unreasonable, and she may be an ME "militant" in the way she presents her arguments, but that doesn't mean that all the science she refers to on her website is "cod" science. Crippen seems to be continuing his pattern of pouring scorn on that which he doesn't know enough about. And in the context of just having had his eyes opened by your book (after he was pouring scorn on you a few weeks ago), you'd think he might be a bit more thoughtful.

nmj said...

Yes, Amy, I agree, that is why I feel uneasy about the review, though obviously pleased too. I think Jodi H does a lot to raise awareness, but I had issues with her rather blinkered/militant denunciation of the science of my book. Still, I do not like to see people unfairly represented in any context. And, as you say, only a few weeks ago I was at the receiving end of Dr Crippen's anti-ME rhetoric. In a way, I want to step back from all of this, I want my book to educate/entertain, and am happy when it does so. I am so bloody exhausted with the medical/political war that is everywhere to do with this illness.

willow said...

Thanks for the good wishes NMJ. I agree that fiction can be all the things you mentioned, it just struck me that fiction can also be 'non-threatening' and in that way help people come to terms with certain situations.

I find it sadly amusing that there appears to be some doctors who find M.E. patients just as threatening as M.E. patients find many of those in the medical profession to be...

Hope this accurately conveys my thoughts....I don't feel very lucid in between these explosive fits of sneezing and coughing!

willow said...

Sigh...or you know what! Perhaps some doctors are just too arrogant to admit that they do not know or understand everything.

willow said...

And angry we all should be.

I should also have said 'fiction *can* be non-threatening' (which doesn't mean it always is) -- I was thinking how some children find it easier to cope/deal with violence in fantasy-fiction, and how Dr C appears to find it easier to cope with M.E. patients via the story of Helen - maybe a poor comparison. Sorry. I think my brain has been addled by this lingering flu bug.

trousers said...

Haven't read the comments here yet - or indeed the doctor's review - but I'm glad to see that he appears to have responded positively to it. I shall go over and see what he has to say in full.

trousers said...

I've had a read of the review. Agreed with you and the posters above about the reservations you mention (including the Helen/Nasim conflation) - but those points aside, he writes some balanced, fair, positive stuff.

As other people have mentioned it seems difficult to know where he stands in a lot of respects on ME, and his threads on the subject have gone into mindbending polemics and controversy (not that you didn't already know that).

But if the book has been engaging to the extent of suspending whatever judgment he might have otherwise had, then that's quite powerful, isn't it?

nmj said...

willow, maybe fictional characters can engage our attention more, precisely cos they are not real - i watched bbc's three part drama about iraq this week, absolutely brilliant, whereas i may not have watched a documentary as i feel exhausted by the reality and horror of that situation. as fiction i was able to bear it and engage. i recommend everyone to watch on iplayer if they didn't see it. you will have tears throughout.

trews, it does suggest the book has a certain power. that can only be good.

willow said...

NMJ, you are right, that is exactly what I meant. Which is also why I was able to watch and truly 'bond' with the main characters in "The Tiger and the Snow" directed by Roberto Benigni. A DVD one would either love or hate. It deals with the war in Iraq but in a humorous almost surreal way, yet at the same time conveying a heartbreakingly poignant 'message'. Had it been a documentary I still would have had strong feelings against war, but, I would not have been able to watch. So yes, perhaps humour and a touch of the surreal/'fantasy' make the difference. In one scene the main character's friend commits suicide in Iraq, yet it is done in such an exquisitely beautiful way that it evokes sorrow instead of horror, or perhaps horror tempered by sorrow. Anyway enuf said.

Reading the Signs said...

Blimey - must see.