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balletbookworm's review against another edition
5.0
A very insightful collection of essays about the experience of living with chronic pain. Huber uses a lot of different essay forms to discuss parenting with pain, how to describe pain (and the inability of a scale to convey “pain” to her medical team), what it is like to be a patient with chronic pain and not have access to a coordinated care team, negotiating a partnership (both emotional and physical) with a lover, and how her writing changes depending on her pain level. Most of the pieces were previously published in blogs and journals, so they overlap on occasion, but this is a must-read collection.
half_book_and_co's review against another edition
5.0
"Pain Woman Takes Your Keys. And Other Essays From a Nervous System" made me think, wonder, and laugh - but most of all I recognized myself and some of my experiences in this book in a way I had not before. In her essays, Huber writes about her experiences with chronic illness and pain, looks at the (US) health system, analyzes common discourses on health/ illness and asks what pain actually is/ means/ does. The tone changes from poetical to outright snarky, the form from essay to open letters and lists. I loved this variety for it also stands in for the different approaches to and experiences of pain.
Huber looks at how the health system and health providers often fail chronic pain patients (i.e. by not taking women in pain serious, by focusing on the possibility of pain med addiction, by using pain scales which do not provide any insight), but she also writes about the difficulty to free oneself from certain ideas of productivity/ parenthood/ how life is supposed to be, sexuality or the lack thereof and social media representations of life with chronic pain/ illness.
Of course, the book cannot discuss all these aspects in an exhaustive way in its 180 pages, but Huber maps out a huge field of what we could consider when discussing pain. The essay collection thus is a great starting point.
Huber looks at how the health system and health providers often fail chronic pain patients (i.e. by not taking women in pain serious, by focusing on the possibility of pain med addiction, by using pain scales which do not provide any insight), but she also writes about the difficulty to free oneself from certain ideas of productivity/ parenthood/ how life is supposed to be, sexuality or the lack thereof and social media representations of life with chronic pain/ illness.
Of course, the book cannot discuss all these aspects in an exhaustive way in its 180 pages, but Huber maps out a huge field of what we could consider when discussing pain. The essay collection thus is a great starting point.
kristinisreading's review against another edition
5.0
Pain Woman Takes Your Keys by Sonya Huber is a book of creative non-fiction essays about chronic pain. With some emphasis on the creative. The author has rheumatoid arthritis. The book was fascinating, filled with various essay styles both traditional and more creative. She really captures, for someone not having that experience, as much as I think is possible in looking at it from so many different angles.
alexandrine_reads's review against another edition
5.0
Everyone with chronic pain should read this book. I feel heard. The author was able to put so much words on feelings that I've been experiencing for years.
aliyyah's review against another edition
Really liked this essay collection. In love with the writing.
gjacks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
4.5
coffee_cake's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
First book of pain essays I've read. The essays were pretty evenly divided between hit and miss.