Rating: 
Summary: Honest and remarkable.
Review: My god, what a life Kaysen, the author of "Girl, Interrupted," a memoir about her teenage years in a mental institution, has had. First that and now this -- a follow-up memoir about her experiences years later with a mysterious and ultimately untreatable vaginal syndrome, the main symptom of which is unbearable and constant pain. As she struggles with the pain and her frustration over her doctors' inability to find out what is causing it, she also finds herself battling her boyfriend who has no compassion for her problem and just accuses of her not wanting to have sex with him anymore. Again, Kaysen does not shy away from all the gory details -- including the intense emotional ups and downs that ensue. But it was really her words on chronic pain that truly affected me. The realization, for example, that, honestly, the pain itself isn't the worst part of chronic pain. The worst part is the fact that you can't ever leave it. Even when you are distracted into forgetting it's there -- it's ALWAYS THERE. And this, more than the pain itself, is what makes people with chronic pain so incredibly exhausted. As someone in that category myself (though my pain is in my hands), I could really relate to her stories -- her guilt (is this my fault? did I do something wrong? if I don't want to try something that might help, does that mean I don't want to get better?), her frustration, her fear that it's "all in her head," and, most of all, her ultimate decision not to let it rule her life anymore. She says at one point she felt like she'd become a vagina -- a walking, talking vagina, the pain had so consumed her world. And that changed everything. That was unacceptable. This is a short but incredibly powerful book. Great for chronic pain warriors (I prefer that to "patients" or "sufferers") who crave the validation that comes from hearing someone else articulate what you feel. And, even better, great for the friends and family of CP warriors who struggle to understand but so often just cannot. (...) In the passage just after this one, she describes chronic pain as being like carrying an unwieldy suitcase around. It's not that the suitcase is too heavy to bear -- it's that you can't ever set it down. That's it. That's it EXACTLY. This is a marvelous book. If Kaysen is reading this: thank you.
Rating:
Summary: grateful to Kaysen for sharing
Review: My opinions about Kaysen's books are shaped largely by the fact that I suffer from the same malady this book describes, vulvar vestibulitis, a form of vulvodynia (literally "painful vulva"). It was an overwhelming relief to read this book, to hear another woman talking about her experience with this disorder and facing many of the same challenges I have faced. Among the two largest of these are trying to talk to friends and family about a disorder that few people know about and that very few feel comfortable discussing (how many friends can you talk frankly about your genitals with? think about it) and trying to have an intimate relationship with someone when sex is painful, difficult, or downright impossible. The book is well-written and very readable. Kaysen even manages to be funny. The novel focuses on Kaysen's personal experience, and does not claim to be a medical guide - this is what makes it an interesting read for anyone, not just those affected with vulvodynia. I disagree with Kaysen's attitudes about potential treatment (she seems to dismiss some things out of hand, in my opinion) but I'm overwhelmingly grateful to her for sharing her experience. Some statistics say that 15% of women have some form of vulvodynia during the course of their life. If more women with vulvodynia - and more who, like Kaysen, are already in the public eye - would speak out about their experiences, the rest of us would not feel so isolated.
Rating:
Summary: grateful to Kaysen for sharing
Review: My opinions about Kaysen's books are shaped largely by the fact that I suffer from the same malady this book describes, vulvar vestibulitis, a form of vulvodynia (literally "painful vulva"). It was an overwhelming relief to read this book, to hear another woman talking about her experience with this disorder and facing many of the same challenges I have faced. Among the two largest of these are trying to talk to friends and family about a disorder that few people know about and that very few feel comfortable discussing (how many friends can you talk frankly about your genitals with? think about it) and trying to have an intimate relationship with someone when sex is painful, difficult, or downright impossible. The book is well-written and very readable. Kaysen even manages to be funny. The novel focuses on Kaysen's personal experience, and does not claim to be a medical guide - this is what makes it an interesting read for anyone, not just those affected with vulvodynia. I disagree with Kaysen's attitudes about potential treatment (she seems to dismiss some things out of hand, in my opinion) but I'm overwhelmingly grateful to her for sharing her experience. Some statistics say that 15% of women have some form of vulvodynia during the course of their life. If more women with vulvodynia - and more who, like Kaysen, are already in the public eye - would speak out about their experiences, the rest of us would not feel so isolated.
Rating: 
Summary: Therapy in a book.
Review: Thank you for this book. I suffer from the same disorder as the author and reading about her going through the same things I have made me feel like I'm not alone. This disorder is very different and unlike any other "women's problem" out there because no one really knows how to treat it. I read this book in one afternoon. I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: easy to digest medical memoir
Review: This is a lighthearted memoir of Kaysen's struggle with a little-known about medical condition she referred to as vestibulitis and a medical field that still has plenty of research to do. Kaysen's sarcastic sense of humor makes for an easy anf un read and lessens the chance of the reader cringing and putting the book down due to society's discomfort with sensitive subjects like this. Kaysen also doesn't gel over her difficulties with the medical field and her boyfriend accepting that her condition wasn't all in her head and the lack or care of knowledge, which anyone has had to deal with can appreciate.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo for sharing such an intimate problem
Review: To anyone whio has sufered from an intractable medical condition, this book will ring true. A very well written, and at time humerous, account of the author's search for relief from pain and the effects of her condition on those around her. It certainly makes one wonder about the competence of the medical profession.
Rating:
Summary: A Well Written Account of Pain and Sorrow
Review: To anyone whio has sufered from an intractable medical condition, this book will ring true. A very well written, and at time humerous, account of the author's search for relief from pain and the effects of her condition on those around her. It certainly makes one wonder about the competence of the medical profession.
Rating:
Summary: Bravo for sharing such an intimate problem
Review: What an incredible relief to read this book. I thought I was the only one who had gone through this misery. The author describes with pitch-perfect accuracy what it is like to have a medical problem no one can fix, and the annoyance you become for even a long-term, trusted doctor who can't "fix" you. I did have the surgery and experienced some improvement. But I have never discussed this with anyone other than my husband. Boy, did it feel good to read Susanna's book. It was like talking to a girlfriend.
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