“Sick,
A Memoir” appears to be an illness narrative of the chaos variety. There are three types of illness narratives
and they have been extensively dissected and discussed by Arthur Frank in “The
Wounded Storyteller.” Often, there are
overlaps between the chaos, quest and restitution stories. Chaos is the most disturbing and difficult
story, because it can not be well articulated and leaves the witness
uneasy. We all prefer hearing about
someone who overcame adversity and triumphed.
Hamlet asks. “Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer/The slings and
arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to
take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing end them?” The chaos actor is adrift on the “sea of
troubles” and can not make sense of what is happening.
-->I have not read the book yet. It will come out on Audible on 7/10/2018.
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