paige
I think this book could've told the same story even if it were a bit shorter tbh. With that being said, I did like it, and I appreciate the story that was told.
But also, I am convinced Kuang is obsessed with killing off her characters. At least she doesn't do it in a Suzanne Collins way though. I'm not sure I could forgive this book if it would've been as emotionally devastating as SOTR and as long as it was. lol
Rounding up to 4 stars.
This book was a bit hard to follow along with because of all of the perspectives. Admittedly, I am recovering from surgery, so I'm sure some of that it my brain being foggy still. But, I still found the book entertaining enough to keep going. Did I totally follow what was happening? No. Did I like what I did follow? Yes.
Admittedly, I was skeptical because of the title. I have never truly believed endo could be “healed.” I am however glad that I bought this book and gave it a read. This is probably the best explanation of how this godforsaken disease actually works, and what all science actually knows about it and managing it. It also does a good job at addressing the reality of living with this disease and not being white, cis-gendered, and wealthy. It was a pleasant contrast to “Beating Endo” in which the authors, [despite being American,] seem to forget the realities of many people plagued with this disease sent from hell, and the cost of living with this disease, especially in America. (Yes I am out here dragging another book in my review for this book.)
I'm grateful to have read it prior to my excision surgery, as I'd like to make some changes noted in here to hopefully keep the disease in remission.
This is a book on endo and inflammation that I would actually recommend. Even for folks who don't have endo, because it is by far one of the most comprehensive, yet approachable explanations to the disease. It is certainly more accurate than me saying that I'm having an “endo exorcism because the disease comes from hell.” I do however still stand by that.
I liked 99% of this book. It's witchy, cottage core, found family/chosen family. What I didn't like was the random moments of lust and the weird sex scene. Don't get me wrong, I love that the characters fell in love. That adds to the cozy vibe. But the “spice” scenes or whatever were so jarring compared to the rest of the vibe happening everywhere else in the book. I think removing them would've made things feel more cohesive tbh. Like it really went from these wholesome scenes with these little girls to talk of “fucking” and erections. It completely takes you out of the story.
Hot take: you can show how characters are falling in love without sex. Especially when it fits so poorly with the rest of the vibe of the book.
Thankfully, it's such a small portion of the overall book that it doesn't completely ruin the book. And the rest of the story was perfect.
informative and helpful, but seems to fall into the trap of similar books that makes it sound like if you just follow all of these things, your endo will be gone and not recur.
It also asks patients to invest hundreds to thousands of dollars in “cooling” down their body before the doctor will excise the endo.
While I don't necessarily disagree with the logic, I think we need to be realistic. Endo excision surgery by a specialist tends to be something that is out of network. It costs thousands of dollars. Nutritionists and therapists might be in network, but could still be very expensive depending on your particular insurance plan. Even if your excision specialist is in network, surgery still isn't cheap. All this to say, not everyone can get this level of care before having surgery. And folks who cannot afford it still deserve to have their pain managed by the gold standard, which is excision of the endometriosis.
I also disagree with the statement in the excision chapter that once endometriosis is removed, it won't grow back in that specific place. There's no guarantee that all of the tissue was removed. In some cases (such as DIE endo) not all of the tissue even can be removed. There's plenty of research out there that contradicts this statement, so I'm not sure where she is getting that information from. An endo specialist cannot guarantee you will not need an additional surgery. The only thing they can do based on their skill and experience is improve your quality of life and hopefully give you many years before you would need that surgery.
I think this book means well and wants to help people, but what we ultimately need is a cure. Not hundreds of thousands of dollars that we invest into whole body care because we were unlucky enough to suffer from this disease. While I obviously think this information can and likely will help people, I also know that the American healthcare system makes getting and maintaining this level of care very difficult for countless individuals. This is not so much a gripe with the book or author, but just as someone living and suffering from an under researched disease that doctors and scientists still don't really understand.
Want to also add that Nancy's Nook is problematic. While it was also created to help people, doctors can pay to be on the list. And Nancy does not allow negative feedback about anyones experience with that doctor.
You're far better off creating a reddit account, joining the endometriosis and endo subreddits, and searching in those subreddits for specialists in your area. At least you'll get honest reviews from folks, and you can even find good recommendations for specialists who accept insurance.
This pains me... but the book kind of dragged here and there. This is one of the few instances where I actually preferred the TV adaptation.
I did enjoy noting the differences between the book and the show. There are certain things I wish they wouldn't have changed for the show that I thought worked well.
Overall, the book is good, but I think it's the pacing that felt off.
If you like the Silo show, the book is still worth reading IMO.
I actually really enjoyed this. I already liked Kamala, but this made me appreciate her more.
I do have some beef though... why is there a chapter in here talking about cyber crime and how easy it is to hack our election machines... but she didn't call for an audit and recount for the election... Queen, I know you know the maths were not mathing
Honestly, I did not finish this book. But that is because the author chose to open up this book discussing how horrible the trump victory was, but then proceeded to list known trumpers for how they're “revolutionary” to feminism. Roseanne Bar and Kim Kardashian are both bad examples of feminists, even if they weren't trumpers.
Also, Lena Dunham? I'd rather gouge my eyes out than be subjected to the “pros” and cons of Lena's “feminism.” She is, in every way, a typical white feminist.
Maybe when this book was written these might've been able to be discussed with a bit of nuance. But in 2025? Hard pass.
This is how you write a bad ass female main character. While it is listed as “romance” and “fantasy romance” I actually wish more authors would have the romance subplot like this. It felt more believable. It also wasn't just two people being annoyingly horny the entire book. The romance was not a core part of these characters personalities. Something other authors could probably take note of.