Map to the Unknown: A Journey Inward

by Isabella Huffington, Brina Palencia (Narrator)

One day, on her way to a date, Isabella Huffington gets hit by a bike. What begins as a concussion with a diagnosed recovery time of seven-to-ten days becomes more than two years of debilitating pain with no apparent end and a string of unhelpful doctor and specialist visits.

In the wreckage, jobs are canceled. Leases are broken. There is no second date. What’s left is Isabella, her body, and her pain. Because the source of her pain cannot be located within the body, she is told over and over that her pain is psychosomatic. And Isabella believes it, over and over.

What follows is a surprisingly funny medical and spiritual journey, during which Isabella must learn to trust in all that she cannot see or quantify: her pain, God, and her inner voice. Everything fell apart and then something new emerged.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook

Audiobook

Published November 19, 2020

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This entire book is about pains. Yes, plural, because she has a lot of them. I watched a loved one deal with chronic pain and know how frustrating it can be to cope on a daily basis. This is especially true if doctors don’t take it seriously. I was interested until the God chapter but that sent me in a direction that took me away from the story. I think there will be readers that will appreciate this one more than I did.

[Coushatta LaRue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was diagnosed with a chronic illness last year and it definitely makes you feel very alone. especially when you go through all of the fighting to get doctors to listen to you, that's something is wrong, and then one finally does. But sometimes things don't get better. So I decided to read this book. I really enjoyed it and it had me captivated and I couldn't stop listening. I was really hoping and rooting for a happier ending. But just like in my situation, there is no solution, there is no cure, it's chronic for the rest of my life. It's really hard to accept but at the end of the book she is right, the more we fight it the worst it'll be. It's hard accepting you have a chronic illness, but accepting is the first step of living a better life. Even if it's the side chronic illness.

[Juan Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

We will all have what happens in a time where there is no hope, where everything seems to be against us. How to fight it?

And the worst thing is that when it is a health problem that is recurrent and irreversible, it is even worse.

The story that Isabella Huffington tells us in her book “Map to the Unknown: A Journey Inward” is very hard.

It all starts with a bicycle accident, and a concussion from which he never recovers. She later discovers that she has serious reproductive problems. She was never able to enjoy sex and she had great pain during intercourse and worse during menstruation.

Isabella's life is difficult, and a lesson for everyone.

[AttackGirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Are you one of those people that engage the drama queens to spill their guts about all of their aches and pains their miserable life pity pity pity well if so this book is for you. A never ending story of an emotional vampire sucking the blood from the whole world in her endless artist venture of nothingness.

The only good thing about the book is her inserting the quotes to support her drama.

Please let this book only be let in the US and not elsewhere so other women do not read this and classify all US women in such a pitiful self loathing manner.

what is her diagnosis Dr. Morell - Definite Psyche ward

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. No matter who you are, what your status in life is, how carefully you try to live, you can never plan for everything or know for sure how things will turn out. Accidents and illnesses happen, and sometimes the repercussions are practically unfathomable.
I understand the frustration of dealing with chronic pain. Sometimes even the best doctors can’t figure it out, and sometimes they tend to push the “blame” or “cause” back onto the patient. Usually there actually is something wrong and it eventually is rooted out, but sometimes the afflicted seek solace in God or drugs or alcohol.

[Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I love about this book is that it captures the condescending way women are treated in the medical field. So many of her doctors telling her that her pain was in her head and that there was nothing wrong with her…”Stop stressing about it. The stress is what’s causing the pain”. Ugh.

What confounded me about this book was the relationship the author had with her body. Almost felt like contempt or self-flagellation.

[Heidi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Content: Language, somewhat detailed sexual content

I started out really connecting to this story, but there was too much detail of sexual things for my liking. It's hard to criticize someone's life story, but I ended up feeling it was a bit of a flop book, instead of the connection to a similar story I was hoping for.

[Pseudo Nymph · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've seen her art and I enjoyed it, but I felt really irritated the entire time I was listening to this book. I think the author comes off as very selfish and irrational in it. It was frustrating for me that she didn't seem to respect the time of the medical professionals she was talking to. I don't want to be too negative, the book wasn't poorly written, it just wasn't for me.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded up.

[RFerrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this book tipped a hat to the benefit of audiobooks. The content was engaging, but I found the story and sharing even more so because of this narrator.

[Angelika Silva · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. I paid attention up until the God chapter. It's a story worth sharing and is unfortunately true for so many.

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book should be required reading for everyone

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m glad this was free. Free and just not a book for me. I already have trouble keeping people like her away from me. I did not finish it but what I did finish was more than enough.

[Sarah Berger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now one of my favorite books. If you are open and even enjoy the humor within a person who is dealing with chronic issues you will love this book. It's like I found someone who gets me.

[Jamie Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but profound. Life’s lessons.