Imagen del autor

Joy Sorman

Autor de Sciences de la vie

14 Obras 83 Miembros 2 Reseñas

Sobre El Autor

Incluye el nombre: Joy Sorman, 1973- author.

Créditos de la imagen: Joy Sorman lors du forum « Animal ? » organisé par France Culture le 13 janvier 2018

Obras de Joy Sorman

Sciences de la vie (2017) 21 copias
Boys, boys, boys (2005) 9 copias
Paris Gare du nord (2011) 8 copias
Comme une bête (2012) 8 copias
La peau de l'ours (2014) 7 copias
Seyvoz (2022) 5 copias
L'inhabitable (2011) 3 copias
Du bruit (2007) 2 copias
Tenderloin (2024) 2 copias
Le témoin (2024) 1 copia

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Miembros

Reseñas

Medicine and doctors spin and weave around a girl's pain in a tale, which questions intentions and the limits of modern science.

It started in the Middle Ages as a woman in her mid-thirties suddenly suffered a constant, tingling pain on her skin. From generation to generation, the illness continues from mother to daughter, each time bringing new and/or different symptoms. Ninon, an average teen girl, is aware of the curse she will inherit from her mother, but when it hits, the knowledge doesn't offer any relief. Like those before her, she tries to find medical assistance, but like those before her, the doctors can't seem to find a solution. With test after test and treatment after treatment, not only does she realize that modern medicine might not be capable of helping, but there are times, she's sure it's not even its true goal.

This book comes from a well-known and talented French author and has been translated into English. It's not a light book but steers with an obvious and clear purpose. The questions surrounding society's trust in modern medicine and science, how the medical world views women's health issues, and the, at times, true intentions behind medicine's greed and ambition at patients' expense are explored, allowing a darker side of all of this to come to light. And one that, unfortunately, women can and do see glimpses of themselves.

I tend to read mostly fiction, which makes the more dry and direct flow of this book stick out to me quite a bit. This isn't written in a story form, meaning it doesn't hover around dialogue, scenes or world building in that sense, but rather takes a drier and concreter look at Ninon and her experiences. It begins with a foreword, which is interesting to read, from Catherine Lacey, and then, dives into the historical explanation of when the disease first appeared in Ninon's ancestors. It takes the form of a told account rather than sliding into a more personal tone and does flow smoothly and clearly.

Embracing hard-won realizations and exploring emotions, Ninon's experiences with her disease and the medical world leave more than a little food for thought. The ending does offer that needed ray of hope and allows even the darker shadows, which cannot be ignored, to not necessarily win the upper-hand.

I received an ARC, am giving it 3.5 stars while rounding up, and found the read thought provoking.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
tdrecker | Sep 14, 2021 |
While reading Joy Sorman’s Boys, Boys, Boys in a café I was distracted by a conversation taking place between 2 people at the next table, first about photos of chairs one of them sat on with her family on holiday near a sandbank, then about thermostats and the control of domestic heating and just before they left about a millipede with orange legs.

Joy Sorman’s book is on a much more serious matter: gender identity, sexuality and couples.
The narrator seeks to explain why she does not want to be part of a traditional couple. She prefers to be with the boys but she cannot quite fit in. She identifies various types of couple all more or less unacceptable to her. She listens to her male friends who define five categories for women:

Bonasses
Pouffiasses
Pouffes
Salopes
Meres

Eventually, she, the narrator, decides to test out a traditional couple approach.

A couple of elderly people came into the café as I was nearing the end of Boys, boys, boys. Again I was distracted by the triviality of the conversation:

‘I had to tell ‘em were off to the sun
I just had too
There is a sort of croissanty thing coming
The man serving is on his own
He said it wasn’t too bad
He must have a break
Perhaps somebody may be coming to help him
Perhaps it’s because of the weather
Jill has got a thing about pills and won’t take them
She’s ill it’s her fault
Paul’s the same
But the lady is intelligent enough to weigh up certain things
Petite Valerie has gone for a burton
3000 staff’

I tried to cling on to the book and its meaning. The narrator’s test failed to the extent that she became convinced of the banality of couplehood. The couple in the café left and fortunately the narrator in the book met a girl very unlike her and clicked.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
jon1lambert | Jan 24, 2019 |

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Estadísticas

Obras
14
Miembros
83
Popularidad
#218,811
Valoración
3.2
Reseñas
2
ISBNs
27
Idiomas
2

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