Patient History

by Tricia Tan

Patient History is a whimsical exploration of the typically grim world of sickness and death. Woven from pop culture, fairytales, and East-meets-West childhood memories of growing up in Singapore, these fantasies are cotton candy sweet—osteoporosis becomes Singapore’s signature Chili Crab, a fistula transfigures into fairy, and organs are commemorated as a theme park.

Genres: Poetry

114 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Zera]

I was gifted this book for my birthday by a dear and thoughtful friend and recently had the pleasure of meeting the author, who happens to be my senior in medical school.

It is not often I meet the author before I read the book, but it deeply shaped my experience reading it from start to finish. Echoes of her motivations to write, her persistence, and semblances of her creative process bled into the reading experience; and it most helped in putting her story into a fitted context.

The book was written throughout her M3-M4 years and published in M5, an impressive feat for a student grappling with her mother's cancer diagnosis. Yet if anything, this collection has proven that poetry is not far from anyone, and in fact, is an instrument of grief and therapy, both its creation and consumption.

Tricia writes a riveting collection that is not immune to pop culture, Singaporean lingo, nor medical jargon. It is a beautiful, religiously-laced melting pot of different poetic devices that aim to tell the story of her inner mind. How quaint, symbolistic and vulnerable it can be. She perfects the balance between topics of serious demeanour contrasting light-hearted wit, her techniques well-delivered and intentional. My most favourite moments were when she wrote of Disney princesses, fairytales and childhood pursuits, latching a "fish-eyed" wonder to complement difficult and trying moments in her life.

This is emotion churned into impeccable creativity, and I can't help but be inspired. Thank you, Tricia, for this beautiful work of art.

[Horatio]

The debut collection of a Singaporean doctor, who writes mostly about her mother's battle with cancer and how it affects her and her family. I felt that most of her poems had moments of brilliance but were let down by a lack of flow. Some poems also felt a little longer than they needed to be. Lastly, I found the activity sections refreshing but ultimately a little gimmicky.

[Nat]

a bold debut that embraces experimentation and fully inhabits a cinematic universe of its own making, populated with gachapon and the little mermaid and the odds and ends of medicalised bodies. and some delightful turns of phrase. one to watch!

[En]

I am so behind my goodreads goal of the year... tbh I don't read poetry often but I got this since I went for a medhums event and !! I did like the imagery and whimsy and the emotion beneath it all

[Manolis]

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

[Grace]

My fav poems are patient history (made me cry); and beekeeping. As an INFP, I like whimsical stuff. But I felt that I had difficulty understanding / visualising the myriad of images piled onto the poems (there was a lot of imagery!) I’m not really a sensory person, so I do prefer a single storyline and delving into the depth of a single idea/metaphor. I imagine this would be up the alley of someone who delights in sensory detail. I loved interacting with the activity sections, it’s a compassionate collection that encourages readers to fill up with their own histories. Love the idea that our stories are layered together & intertwined like this. Overall, a particularly touching collection. Our imagination that offers itself to us as light in the midst of brokenness, we make up stories to cope, to soften, but most of all, to live.