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Patient: The True Story of a Rare Illness
In 1992, Ben Watt, a member of the band Everything But The Girl, contracted a rare life-threatening illness that baffled doctors and required months of hospital treatment and operations. This is the story of his fight for survival and the effect it had on him and those nearest him.
'In the summer of 1992, on the eve of a trip to America, I was taken to a London hospital with bad chest pain and stomach pains. They kept me in for two and half months. I fell very ill – about as ill it is possible to be without actually dying – confronting a disease hardly anyone, not even some doctors, had heard of. People ask what was it like, and I say yes, of course it was dramatic and graphic and all that stuff, but at times it was just kind of comic and strange. It was, I suppose, my life-changing story.'
'In the summer of 1992, on the eve of a trip to America, I was taken to a London hospital with bad chest pain and stomach pains. They kept me in for two and half months. I fell very ill – about as ill it is possible to be without actually dying – confronting a disease hardly anyone, not even some doctors, had heard of. People ask what was it like, and I say yes, of course it was dramatic and graphic and all that stuff, but at times it was just kind of comic and strange. It was, I suppose, my life-changing story.'
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
February 7, 2018
This is one of those books I've wanted to read for a long time. Even if you're not interested in his/their music, this is still quite interesting a book about a rare illness, and a view into a mind of one who had it. And one understands better how the author was so skinny around the time EBTG had their hit, "Missing".
The illness in question turns out to be: .
Sometime around early January of 1992, the author, a member of the band Everything But The Girl, started to feel terrible. His mild asthma started to grow worse and worse, and even the strongest asthma medicines seemed eventually not to work. Then came the chest pains that took him to the start of the hospital stay, in June. But this was just the beginning of the series of symptoms that followed - and the hunt for right diagnosis started.
We get a view of his state of mind, how it changes (certain detachment grows, which makes return to the world a bit of a shock; also, many moments of what he thought of certain situations in italics). We get a view of all the pain, the fever, the vomiting, the discomforts of various kind. There are some disturbing details which might mean that some readers might want to avoid eating while reading.
But we also get the humor, like needing someone to move his head a little to hear better through his left ear. And reading about the doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors is interesting: the nice, the annoying, the sad. And enjoyment: aromatherapy foot message, a welcome ice cube after a long period of no fluid through mouth, a good shower, being able to sleep on your side again, finally...
It's nice to read how supportive his girlfriend, later wife, Tracey, was (I have no doubt that this ordeal influenced the lyrics for future songs). The picture of what the home was like to her while he was in the hospital was moving (take away lists, meals for one, dirty dishes for one in the kitchen...).
His mother is also supportive, though she doesn't quite understand the details of the illness. His father is sometimes infuriatingly afraid of visiting, but that's just his character (and he gets better at visiting, eventually).
We get to visit the author's past: family Christmases, his dates and travels with Tracey, how he spent time with his dad, his dad's band-past. We also get a view of author's imaginary worlds and memories.
And finally, we get to see what it's like to be back home, what uncertainties remain, what restrictions to the diet will stay (it's a ).
It's a picture of a treatment of a rare illness, of what a patient would think through the experience - before, during, after - and of course, this is a picture of the author, who I grew to like through this :) I'm glad I finally got around to reading this.
The illness in question turns out to be: .
Sometime around early January of 1992, the author, a member of the band Everything But The Girl, started to feel terrible. His mild asthma started to grow worse and worse, and even the strongest asthma medicines seemed eventually not to work. Then came the chest pains that took him to the start of the hospital stay, in June. But this was just the beginning of the series of symptoms that followed - and the hunt for right diagnosis started.
We get a view of his state of mind, how it changes (certain detachment grows, which makes return to the world a bit of a shock; also, many moments of what he thought of certain situations in italics). We get a view of all the pain, the fever, the vomiting, the discomforts of various kind. There are some disturbing details which might mean that some readers might want to avoid eating while reading.
But we also get the humor, like needing someone to move his head a little to hear better through his left ear. And reading about the doctors, nurses, patients, and visitors is interesting: the nice, the annoying, the sad. And enjoyment: aromatherapy foot message, a welcome ice cube after a long period of no fluid through mouth, a good shower, being able to sleep on your side again, finally...
It's nice to read how supportive his girlfriend, later wife, Tracey, was (I have no doubt that this ordeal influenced the lyrics for future songs). The picture of what the home was like to her while he was in the hospital was moving (take away lists, meals for one, dirty dishes for one in the kitchen...).
His mother is also supportive, though she doesn't quite understand the details of the illness. His father is sometimes infuriatingly afraid of visiting, but that's just his character (and he gets better at visiting, eventually).
We get to visit the author's past: family Christmases, his dates and travels with Tracey, how he spent time with his dad, his dad's band-past. We also get a view of author's imaginary worlds and memories.
And finally, we get to see what it's like to be back home, what uncertainties remain, what restrictions to the diet will stay (it's a ).
It's a picture of a treatment of a rare illness, of what a patient would think through the experience - before, during, after - and of course, this is a picture of the author, who I grew to like through this :) I'm glad I finally got around to reading this.
December 22, 2011
Just re-read this book for the first time in years, and was reminded of how good it is: intensely personal but effortlessly accessible; reflective, often lyrical, but (despite the subject) never somber; an understated but strikingly insightful view into the world and counter-life of serious illness, ultimately woven back into the fabric of healthy life.
Curiously, I first became a devotee of Everything But the Girl at the very time that Watt was in hospital, over the summer of 1992. My first summer away from home, living in a tiny studio sublet in New Haven: I have a vivid memory of sitting at a table improvised from a giant cable spool, breeze coming through the windows open above the street, listening to EBTG's album Acoustic.
Curiously, I first became a devotee of Everything But the Girl at the very time that Watt was in hospital, over the summer of 1992. My first summer away from home, living in a tiny studio sublet in New Haven: I have a vivid memory of sitting at a table improvised from a giant cable spool, breeze coming through the windows open above the street, listening to EBTG's album Acoustic.
January 2, 2016
Not the easiest of subjects to read about, but Ben's writing is so clear, lucid and embracing that you get swept along in his story.
Who would think that a story about a life threatening condition could be so heart warming, funny, frustrating and thoughtful at the same time - well this book is all of these things and more.
It also shows what a wonderful institution the NHS in the UK is, and the hard work that all of the nurses, doctors, surgeons, cleaners, volunteers etc do in hospitals everywhere. Where would we be without them?
A great life affirming book, and not just for people who like Everything But The Girl.
Who would think that a story about a life threatening condition could be so heart warming, funny, frustrating and thoughtful at the same time - well this book is all of these things and more.
It also shows what a wonderful institution the NHS in the UK is, and the hard work that all of the nurses, doctors, surgeons, cleaners, volunteers etc do in hospitals everywhere. Where would we be without them?
A great life affirming book, and not just for people who like Everything But The Girl.
May 24, 2013
I have read this book so many times since the day I bought it. It was the book I was reading when my grandad died, it was the book I was reading in the midst of a prolonged period of illness, it is the book I return to when I need to find a way of stilling myself and reminding myself who I am and where I am. It's beautifully written, in spare but evocative language that captures the rawness and strange detachment of serious illness. I love this book, both for what it is and for what it has come to mean to me.
August 26, 2015
I watched a family member suffer through this horrible disease. But like the author, they made it through to the other side. Thank you Ben Watt for writing this book and sharing your experience.
March 30, 2019
Ben Watt's Patient: The True Story Of A Rare Illness is a swift, fully immersive and downright harrowing memoir, expertly delivering the experience Watt himself underwent as a hospital patient over several months in 1992 as he suffered, nearly perished and ultimately recovered from the rare auto-immune disease known as Churg-Strauss syndrome, a condition that robbed Watt of most of his small intestine.
For me, the book was quite reminiscent of Director George Miller's "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), as Watt's book mirrored the utterly terrifying medical presentation depicted in that film as the intensity of the disease was as relentless as the search for its identity and cure--so much so, I was unsure if I would be able to stick with it as it is indeed a literary work of existential horror. To be so rapidly confronted with the fragility of life and the ease at which one can lose any sense of a hold upon simply living is frightening to me to say the least, and the clarity and directness of Watt's meticulous details of his own experience, and at the age of 29 at that, brings the reader to the front lines of his health crisis, forcing all of us to ponder our own sense of mortality as he wrestled with his own.
And then, Patient settles down into a rhythm of pure multi-layered poetry without diluting its power--in fact, the weight of the book increases despite its slimness. Watt provides a narrative that surrounds us with the minutiae of hospital life, from the rhythms contained in the comings and goings of doctors and nurses plus the sounds of nearby patients living and dying to the music of electronic machinery.
Watt also shares the sense of disorientation that arrives with being hospitalized as he is fraught with hallucinations, memories and dream states all claiming his attention. He provides us with various love stories and family narratives as he is routinely visited and cared for by Tracey Thorn as well as his Mother and yet the pain and fear experienced by his Father, therefore establishing a bit of disconnect and ultimately, a renewal was beautifully emotional without growing maudlin.
And then, there is Watt's relationship with himself, his mortality and his changing body all the while clearly going through the Kubler-Ross Five Stages Of Grief over the person he was and the life he had as he ponders just how to continue should he survive.
Over 20 years since the publication of this book, Ben Watt has more than continued to live and thrive as he has become a parent to now adult children with Thorn, he has also firmly established a solo career in music through his own albums as well as his work as a Producer and DJ and he has continued his literary life as an author--and what an exceedingly gifted writer.
For me, the book was quite reminiscent of Director George Miller's "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), as Watt's book mirrored the utterly terrifying medical presentation depicted in that film as the intensity of the disease was as relentless as the search for its identity and cure--so much so, I was unsure if I would be able to stick with it as it is indeed a literary work of existential horror. To be so rapidly confronted with the fragility of life and the ease at which one can lose any sense of a hold upon simply living is frightening to me to say the least, and the clarity and directness of Watt's meticulous details of his own experience, and at the age of 29 at that, brings the reader to the front lines of his health crisis, forcing all of us to ponder our own sense of mortality as he wrestled with his own.
And then, Patient settles down into a rhythm of pure multi-layered poetry without diluting its power--in fact, the weight of the book increases despite its slimness. Watt provides a narrative that surrounds us with the minutiae of hospital life, from the rhythms contained in the comings and goings of doctors and nurses plus the sounds of nearby patients living and dying to the music of electronic machinery.
Watt also shares the sense of disorientation that arrives with being hospitalized as he is fraught with hallucinations, memories and dream states all claiming his attention. He provides us with various love stories and family narratives as he is routinely visited and cared for by Tracey Thorn as well as his Mother and yet the pain and fear experienced by his Father, therefore establishing a bit of disconnect and ultimately, a renewal was beautifully emotional without growing maudlin.
And then, there is Watt's relationship with himself, his mortality and his changing body all the while clearly going through the Kubler-Ross Five Stages Of Grief over the person he was and the life he had as he ponders just how to continue should he survive.
Over 20 years since the publication of this book, Ben Watt has more than continued to live and thrive as he has become a parent to now adult children with Thorn, he has also firmly established a solo career in music through his own albums as well as his work as a Producer and DJ and he has continued his literary life as an author--and what an exceedingly gifted writer.
November 17, 2019
4.5 stars. Ben Watt is a brilliant writer. This novella-length book about his sudden and serious illness could have been gloomy and grisly, but his thoughtful and lyrical prose has resulted in a gripping and insightful memoir of long-term pain and hospitalisation, fear and love. I read this off the back of his wife's memoir (Tracey Thorn's 'Bedsit Disco Queen') and am more enamored than ever with this quirky, deep-thinking, artistic couple.
His description of the physical sensations of illness allowed me to be inside his body with him, experiencing the often hallucinatory effects of sickness and medication:
"Inside my head I felt the tissue was too small for the space it occupied. If I moved, it seemed to scrape against the surface. Abrasive. Stinging. Like grazing the fleshy part of the arm against a pebble-dashed wall. Twisting my head would bring out little electrical storms across my brow and down my nose and though my sinuses. Tiny lightning strikes. And I was a small creature who had made its home in this skull. Peeping out from the darkness. Tiny eyes like beads. Silent. Quietly scuffling in one of the sockets. I felt rotten in my guts." (page 130)
Fav quotes:
But when I grieve now I seem to cry only for a general sense of loss and change that encompasses as much the present and my prospects for the future as it does the past. (page 35)
People say we have always been formidable. It's not how it seems from the inside. (page 101)
His description of the physical sensations of illness allowed me to be inside his body with him, experiencing the often hallucinatory effects of sickness and medication:
"Inside my head I felt the tissue was too small for the space it occupied. If I moved, it seemed to scrape against the surface. Abrasive. Stinging. Like grazing the fleshy part of the arm against a pebble-dashed wall. Twisting my head would bring out little electrical storms across my brow and down my nose and though my sinuses. Tiny lightning strikes. And I was a small creature who had made its home in this skull. Peeping out from the darkness. Tiny eyes like beads. Silent. Quietly scuffling in one of the sockets. I felt rotten in my guts." (page 130)
Fav quotes:
But when I grieve now I seem to cry only for a general sense of loss and change that encompasses as much the present and my prospects for the future as it does the past. (page 35)
People say we have always been formidable. It's not how it seems from the inside. (page 101)
January 11, 2013
I noticed that some reviewers on this site found this book boring. Boy, that was NOT my reaction. I found Watt's writing style to be delightful and there were passages that moved me and passages that made me laugh out loud. This book succeeds on so many levels. It's a very accurate description of what it feels like to be seriously ill in a hospital; it's also a wonderful memoir about life in England in the 1980s and early 1990s. (Postscript: an interview with Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn from 2010.)
April 10, 2019
I found this book to be interesting but I didn't find myself eagerly turning the pages to read what's to come. Watt does a good job at making his very complicated and unfortunate medical history interesting through humour and simplicity of the story itself. The book is very comprehensive and reflective, I often found myself connecting his deep, honest thoughts to my own thoughts during the times I had also been extremely sick in my own personal life. Having said that, he does a good job of giving the reader the mental aspect of going through serious illnesses-it's not all about the physical aspect. Overall, Watt does an extremely good job to appeal to the reader as a patient or prisoner to his illness. Even with all of the other events happening outside of the hospital with his personal life and band, he captures how none of that mattered compared to his inner self and life which is something that is hard to share about being on a hospital bed.
June 9, 2024
A true story of the rare life threatening illness suffered by Musician Ben Watts. It demonstrates how a life can alter without warning. A graphic account of the months he spent in hospital and the surgery he faced.
August 20, 2021
I loved this. I think I like reading detailed descriptions of major illnesses? If you don't, don't read this.
June 3, 2018
“Patient, the true story of a rare illness, that was first published in 1996. It’s written in a lyrical style without self-pity and is never sentimental. It contains his observations about what severe illness really is and about his struggle with both the mental as well as the physical difficulties of recovery. Watt injects pathos and humor into his medical nightmare, writing about his childhood, reflecting on his family and on his shared life with band member and partner Tracey Horn. The result is a provocative and affecting memoir about life, illness, and survival. The most powerful images in the book are the descriptions of the things that go on around him in the hospital and how he and his family and friends deal with the illness.
His recovery took a long time and as Watt wrote: “to paraphrase Joseph Heller: You know it’s something serious when they name it after two guys”…
In interviews, Watt pointed out that writing the book was a way of dealing with his illness. It helped him to explain the emotional trauma that he was going through at the time and how turning his thoughts into words was crucial to his recovery.
This is a painfully honest and extremely well-written account of unexpected, unexplained serious illness in a young man and his diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. It's very compelling, I read it one sitting. The style is very direct and you feel drawn to the situation. The time spent on hospital wards is very accurately portrayed, especially adjusting toward life and how your world shrinks, distractions are few, boredom stretches endlessly and one becomes inevitably introspective. This is a very affecting book, it doesn't pull it punches and is all the more powerful for it. Brilliant. So glad that he has made a good recovery.
His recovery took a long time and as Watt wrote: “to paraphrase Joseph Heller: You know it’s something serious when they name it after two guys”…
In interviews, Watt pointed out that writing the book was a way of dealing with his illness. It helped him to explain the emotional trauma that he was going through at the time and how turning his thoughts into words was crucial to his recovery.
This is a painfully honest and extremely well-written account of unexpected, unexplained serious illness in a young man and his diagnosis, treatment, and recovery. It's very compelling, I read it one sitting. The style is very direct and you feel drawn to the situation. The time spent on hospital wards is very accurately portrayed, especially adjusting toward life and how your world shrinks, distractions are few, boredom stretches endlessly and one becomes inevitably introspective. This is a very affecting book, it doesn't pull it punches and is all the more powerful for it. Brilliant. So glad that he has made a good recovery.
December 13, 2012
Eh, it was ok. I got this memoir from the library primarily because it is by Ben Watt, who is part of the duo called Everything But the Girl. Dang, I love their songwriting. I'm currently on a memoir kick and this seemed like an interesting premise; sort of like a House episode on tv. Why is Ben having these symptoms? What could it be? etc.
Turns out that reading about a person's illness is pretty dang boring - not like a tv show at all. The part that held the most fascination for me was reading about the UK medical system. Wow, their hospitals sound like total dumps compared to American ones! This memoir takes place in 1992 but the hospital sounds like it is out of the 1930s. I guess American 1930s. Apparently normal for Britain.
None of the patients have private or even semi-private rooms. It's a big ward with lots of beds. The patients have to go down the hallway to use the bathroom - like you are at a youth hostel or second rate b&b. Also, no tvs but a tv common room. It seems to take forever to get tests done or to see specialists. And the nurses live in dorms nearby? Or something like that. It wasn't clear in the book. And the food is your typical old fashioned British food - very yucky & not particularly healthy.
The main thing I got out of this memoir was an appreciation for how clean & modern our American hospitals are. And I've had several hospital stays & in the early 80s I worked as a candy striper at the public hospital my dad worked at. Plus visiting friends & relatives at various hospitals over the years. Even the dumpiest hospital I've been in has had tvs & bathrooms in the patient rooms. I hope I never need to go to the hospital in the UK.
Turns out that reading about a person's illness is pretty dang boring - not like a tv show at all. The part that held the most fascination for me was reading about the UK medical system. Wow, their hospitals sound like total dumps compared to American ones! This memoir takes place in 1992 but the hospital sounds like it is out of the 1930s. I guess American 1930s. Apparently normal for Britain.
None of the patients have private or even semi-private rooms. It's a big ward with lots of beds. The patients have to go down the hallway to use the bathroom - like you are at a youth hostel or second rate b&b. Also, no tvs but a tv common room. It seems to take forever to get tests done or to see specialists. And the nurses live in dorms nearby? Or something like that. It wasn't clear in the book. And the food is your typical old fashioned British food - very yucky & not particularly healthy.
The main thing I got out of this memoir was an appreciation for how clean & modern our American hospitals are. And I've had several hospital stays & in the early 80s I worked as a candy striper at the public hospital my dad worked at. Plus visiting friends & relatives at various hospitals over the years. Even the dumpiest hospital I've been in has had tvs & bathrooms in the patient rooms. I hope I never need to go to the hospital in the UK.
January 22, 2023
Reflections and lessons learned:
“It’s the first time they keep you in that really matters. Overnight is when you’re really on the mountain. It makes you lose your bearings a little more. It is the unfamiliarity and the institutionalised accessories that first get to you - starched pillowcases with the hospitals name on, theatre gowns… the smell of heavily washed floors and sterilisation. It seems so primitive, so unlike home, so barely adequate…”
Despite enjoying a bit of Everything But The Girl over the years, I’ve never had a natural interest in Ben Watt. I appreciate that’s really rude as you can’t have the art without the artist of course (for good and bad), but it was the health element of this book that attracted me - how does someone transition from TOTP to a hospital ward without feeling kicked in life? Apparently it is possible, which is testament to the man and the support
A great narrative for anyone that’s had to remain in an NHS hospital whilst it’s all worked out, which I’m guessing can be both baffling and comforting at completely opposite ends of the spectrum. I only did post maternity four nights and that was an amazing insight into my own character, and I mostly knew what was happening biologically!! I promise that I’ll take more of an interest in the co-creating character behind the music, and this is a great 75th anniversary year read for anyone that wants to hear the non political ups and downs of a national health service
“It’s the first time they keep you in that really matters. Overnight is when you’re really on the mountain. It makes you lose your bearings a little more. It is the unfamiliarity and the institutionalised accessories that first get to you - starched pillowcases with the hospitals name on, theatre gowns… the smell of heavily washed floors and sterilisation. It seems so primitive, so unlike home, so barely adequate…”
Despite enjoying a bit of Everything But The Girl over the years, I’ve never had a natural interest in Ben Watt. I appreciate that’s really rude as you can’t have the art without the artist of course (for good and bad), but it was the health element of this book that attracted me - how does someone transition from TOTP to a hospital ward without feeling kicked in life? Apparently it is possible, which is testament to the man and the support
A great narrative for anyone that’s had to remain in an NHS hospital whilst it’s all worked out, which I’m guessing can be both baffling and comforting at completely opposite ends of the spectrum. I only did post maternity four nights and that was an amazing insight into my own character, and I mostly knew what was happening biologically!! I promise that I’ll take more of an interest in the co-creating character behind the music, and this is a great 75th anniversary year read for anyone that wants to hear the non political ups and downs of a national health service
April 16, 2017
A very moving account of the experience of serious illness and how it is to be a patient in hospital. It is particularly good on the internal mental processes of illness, the way that it can affect your sense of yourself and your relationships with others. I had such a strong sense of how the writer's horizons shrank and his world became limited to his own pain when he was at his worst. Even when he was relatively well, his life ended at the doors of the ward. He drew a poignant contrast between those limitations and his previous life as a successful musician, touring the world.
Fiction is often about feelings and thoughts, and about actions in the physical, outer world. But life is lived in the body, and this book really looks at how deeply affecting it is when that body goes suddenly and drastically wrong, including the long-lasting effects of the trauma. It is also something of an ode to the NHS with all its flaws and warts. Although the writer's experiences were over 20 years ago it still rings very true, and I loved his description of the NHS as a free and brilliant shambles.
Fiction is often about feelings and thoughts, and about actions in the physical, outer world. But life is lived in the body, and this book really looks at how deeply affecting it is when that body goes suddenly and drastically wrong, including the long-lasting effects of the trauma. It is also something of an ode to the NHS with all its flaws and warts. Although the writer's experiences were over 20 years ago it still rings very true, and I loved his description of the NHS as a free and brilliant shambles.
February 14, 2011
An amazing view of what it's like to be at death's door with an undiagnosed illness. What struck me most is the way Watt kept turning inside himself; the outside world was completely irrelevant to him. At one point, he's standing in the hospital's shop, looking at the things for sale, and he stares at the sandwiches and snacks on display like they're "arresting" museum exhibits. He hasn't eaten by mouth in a very long time at this point, so food is a curiosity to him. I also found it sweet how his girlfriend and bandmate stuck by his side, caring for him throughout his illness and afterward, when others might have found that particular road too difficult to travel with him. I find it amazing that modern medicine has allowed Watt to live an almost normal life, and return to recording and touring with his wife, with just 15% of his small intestine.
January 13, 2008
Admittedly, a book about an obscure 80's British pop star's journey through an extremely rare and nearly fatal encounter with an extremely rare immune system disorder might be a bit of a hard sell for some but this is truly an amazing and - yes - inspiring book. Told with a songwriter's ear for detail and an almost unbelievable honest and wit, considering the circumstances he was facing, this is a riveting account of what it is like to go from the "normal" world where one is in control to "patient" world where one surrenders control, not to mention dignity. Yet in the end it is the dignity of a survivor that carries this book. An unlikely a page turner as ever was but none the less, highly recommended.
May 4, 2017
I'm not a fan of Everything but the girl...though I don't dislike them I do listen to other 'pop' music that serves me better of a similar type to theirs..this is maybe irrelevant but I do mention it as I don't think not being a fan should stop anyone picking up this book.
The book is a journey into ill health and surgery and yet is in no way self pitying which in itself is a wonder given the gravity of procedure..hospital life is vividly portrayed with humour and enough fleshing out of characters and scenes to raise a smile and an occasional chuckle.
It's a good book which also has much to say about the relationship between patient and visitor and although a fast read it is a worthy one.
The book is a journey into ill health and surgery and yet is in no way self pitying which in itself is a wonder given the gravity of procedure..hospital life is vividly portrayed with humour and enough fleshing out of characters and scenes to raise a smile and an occasional chuckle.
It's a good book which also has much to say about the relationship between patient and visitor and although a fast read it is a worthy one.
March 5, 2018
This isn't the life story of Ben Watt -musician, DJ, music producer, radio host, and 1/2 of the group Everything But the Girl -although we do catch glimpses of his life in dreamy, gauzy, drug-induced, sleep-deprived snippets. But intertwined with the story of his eight-week stay in the hospital fighting a life-threatening and life-changing autoimmune disease, we get a feel for the true reason and meaning of this short, poetic read - it's a love story to his life partner of (now) 36 year, Tracey Thorn, and what it means to devote yourself to someone "in sickness and in health."
August 30, 2008
Though I had to pause reading it because of the descriptions of what he had to face getting treated for his disease - this was a wonderfully written book. It was very honest and vulnerable and lovely. I'm a big EBTG fan, which was the initial intrigue, but am now a fan of him as a person who faced death, faced himself, and faced the world in this heartwrenching story. Some nice dry English humour as well. ;)
March 28, 2011
An otherwise healthy young man suddenly develops an autoimmune disease that results in him losing much of his large intestine, with a long hospital stay, and huge changes in his life. He's British, and tells his story in a clear, understated way. He does a great job of conveying how disconcerting it is to be suddenly no longer able bodied. He's half of the British pop duo Everything but the Girl. I listened to some of their songs on the web, which weren't to my taste, but I liked his book.
December 8, 2011
Borrowed from Laura. This book reminded me a lot of when I was sick and had emergency surgery several years ago - the descriptions of his mindspace were very accurate and familiar to my own experience and took me back to that time in a way that was both unpleasant (who wants to think about being sick and scared) and reassuring (oh yeah, that sucked, but now I'm so healthy, and wow, someone else felt the same way in similar but way, way worse situation).
February 23, 2014
This book deeply resonated with me, especially since I've spent the past five years coping with my husband's illness. The author really captures the experience of serious, sudden illness and hospitalization, of pain, frustration and alienation. It is beautifully written, heartfelt and deeply moving, and the author's voice is strong and distinct from the very first sentence. I look forward to reading his next work.
April 16, 2014
I've come to the conclusion that I must be a nasty individual, because I actually enjoyed reading about someone's pain and suffering! I could sympathise but not empathise with Ben Watt - it's such a rare disease that there can't be many others around that CAN empathise! I'm glad I read it though. Brave man! One thing puzzled me - did he keep a diary? To remember every thought etc. over a space of some 30 years makes it seem likely. Mmmm!
June 2, 2018
After hearing Ben's wife Tracy Thorn on Fresh Air recently, I listened to this book on Audible in Ben's own voice. It's a well written story of a life throughly turned upside down by a mysterious illness. An author as well as musician, Watt made this sad and sometimes dreary tale of his world shrinking to a few feet of hospital space quite interesting and powerful. Glad he was able to heal and want an update!
April 11, 2007
This is well-written autobiographical account of Ben Watt's battle with a near-fatal disease (Churg-Strauss Syndrome). Ben is part of the musical duo called Everything But the Girl. His story goes into detail of his horrifying experience, his slow and painful recovery, and his will and determination despite the nightmare he goes through.
September 8, 2007
This is the story of one man's life threatening rare illness. I read this book in a span of 4 hours. It was compelling and very urgently told. Despite the story being depressing, his writing didn't allow you to feel pity but to walk you through the fear and the pain he felt. Nothing romantic about it- just a normal man trying to deal with the cards dealt to him. It was a very inspiring story.
September 17, 2016
I wasn't sure I could finish this book. Really tedious reading. I respect Ben Watt and I'm glad he wrote the book. How difficult it would be to be near death sick and deal with the doctors not know what's wrong with you. But it really wasn't an easy book for me to get through. It does give a very honest insight of him and his relationships.
July 17, 2015
As a long time fan of "Everything But the Girl", I had known that Ben Watt had suffered a near-fatal auto-immune illness about 20 years ago. Only recently heard about this book and decided to read. A fast read, Mr. Watt's personal account of his illness and recovery is captivating, interweaving flashbacks that provide insight into his childhood and marriage to Tracey Thorn.
September 18, 2008
A heart-rendingly simple and stunningly well-told journey through a man's horrible illness and wonderful recovery. Warts and all, is the usual cliche, but crikes, he's so honest, so direct. Missing, indeed.
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