Sick

by Porochista Khakpour

  • Harper Perennial
  • 2018
  • ISBN: 978-0062428738
  • 272 pages
  • WorldCat
Sick
About the Book

Sick is Khakpour's arduous, emotional journey--as a woman, a writer, and a lifelong sufferer of undiagnosed health problems--through the chronic illness that perpetually left her a victim of anxiety, living a life stymied by an unknown condition. Divided by settings, Khakpour guides the reader through her illness by way of the locations that changed her course--New York, LA, New Mexico, and Germany--as she meditates on both the physical and psychological impacts of uncertainty, and the eventual challenge of accepting the diagnosis she had searched for over the course of her adult life. With candor and grace, she examines her subsequent struggles with mental illness, her addiction to the benzodiazepines prescribed by her psychiatrists, and her ever-deteriorating physical health. A story about survival, pain, and transformation, Sick is a candid, illuminating narrative of hope and uncertainty, boldly examining the deep impact of illness on one woman's life. ebook icon Audio book icon

Time Magazine's Best Memoirs of 2018 | Boston Globe's 25 Books We Can't Wait to Read in 2018 | Buzzfeed's 33 Most Exciting New Books | GQ Best Non Fiction Book of 2018 | Bustle’s 28 Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2018 list | Nylon’s 50 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018 | Electric Literature’s 46 Books to Read By Women of Color in 2018
Porochista Khakpour
About the Author

Porochista Khakpour’s debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice, one of the Chicago Tribune’s Fall’s Best, and the 2007 California Book Award winner in the “First Fiction” category. Her second novel The Last Illusion was a 2014 "Best Book of the Year" according to NPR, Kirkus, Buzzfeed, Popmatters, Electric Literature, and many more. Among her many fellowships is a National Endowment for the Arts award. Her nonfiction has appeared in many sections of The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Elle, Slate, Salon, and Bookforum, among many others. Currently, she is guest faculty at VCFA and Stonecoast's MFA programs as well as Contributing Editor at The Evergreen Review. Born in Tehran and raised in the Los Angeles area, she lives in New York City’s Harlem.

Official website of Porochista Khakpour

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last updated: 08/07/25 12:15