cover image What Her Body Thought: A Journey Into the Shadows

What Her Body Thought: A Journey Into the Shadows

Susan Griffin. HarperOne, $24 (328pp) ISBN 978-0-06-251435-6

""The life of the body is at the heart of my story,"" declares philosopher, ecologist and feminist theorist Griffin, as she describes her harrowing descent into serious illness. An astute cultural critic, Griffin probes two stories of illness--her own and the archetypal tale of women and illness Camille (in book, play, opera and film form)--in an effort to explore the role of illness and healing in society. At the core of Griffin's ruminative narrative is her battle with Chronic Fatigue Immune Deficiency Syndrome (CFIDS). The disease has left her bedridden, unable to care for her own most basic needs and frightened that she will die alone. Raw with grief over her loss of health and fearful of penury as she becomes unable to work, Griffin has also felt tremendous shame at being betrayed by her body--""like a lover seduced and abandoned."" She is angry at the way her illness has been minimized by the scientific and medical communities, even by her own friends. Griffin has an exquisite sense of place and a gripping yet lyrical style. However, her constant return to the themes of Camille wears thin by the book's end, and the short prose poems interspersed throughout are distracting--alternately florid and flat. Despite these flaws, the book offers valuable insights into illness and society, elucidating Griffin's theory that ""illness itself uncovers hidden reserves of strength."" Author tour. (May)