A History of the Present Illness takes readers into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in American today. An elderly Chinese immigrant sacrifices his demented wife's well-being to his son's authority. A busy Latina physician's eldest daughter's need for more attention has disastrous consequences. A young veteran's injuries become a metaphor for the rest of his life. A gay doctor learns very different lessons about family from his life and his work, and a psychiatrist who advocates for the underserved may herself be crazy. Together, these honest and compassionate stories introduce a striking new literary voice and provide a view of what it means to be a doctor and a patient unlike anything we've read before. In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social relevance. Masterfully told, A History of the Present Illness explores the role of stories in medicine and creates a world pulsating with life, speaking truths about what makes us human.
A History of the Present Illness: Stories Hardcover – January 22, 2013
by Louise Aronson (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 32 ratings
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
San Francisco is the setting of this collection of 16 short stories by physician-author Aronson. The patients, families, and doctors populating these tales are clobbered by random events that alter their lives. Missed opportunities and poor decisions also get plenty of play. In one story, a physician is charged with killing a patient. In another, an angry, bratty teenage daughter runs away from home. We never learn her fate or what happens to the worrying parents. A purposeful dearth of denouement occurs in other provocation tales. The gem of the collection, “Lucky You,” recounts what happens when an 11-year-old boy tumbles down a cliff. A dog walker happens to be at the scene of the accident but is hesitant to intervene even though she has medical training. Aronson effectively illustrates just how jumbled life can be. Hope is limping barely one step ahead of sadness. Human devotion and division, responsibility to self and others are only a smidgen of the subject matter examined by talented and knowledgeable Aronson. --Tony Miksanek
Review
“Dr. Aronson writes lovely, nuanced description.” ―New York Times
“A History of the Present Illness provides an intimate look into how the aging process affects real lives and a non-didactic take on the importance of health care.” ―San Francisco Chronicle
“The ethical dilemmas that abound in medicine are prominent but never swamp the stories: these are tales about people, as insightfulas Lorrie Moore or Alice Munro.” ―The Independent (UK)
“Aronson's examination of medical culture in stories, of the brutality and tenderness at home and hospital, is a gem. [Her] voice is tender and one from which I hope we'll hear more histories in the future.” ―Washington Independent Review of Books
“Aronson effectively illustrates just how jumbled life can be. Hope is limping barely one step ahead of sadness. Human devotion and division, responsibility to self and others are only a smidgen of the subject matter examined by talented and knowledgeable Aronson.” ―Booklist
“In A History of the Present Illness Louise Aronson invites us to bear witness as people--with very little fanfare, but with a profound sense of truth--to come to terms with what it really means to be a flawed, sick human being in a flawed, sick world. These stories are about medicine exactly in the way that medicine is about life: here hospitals contain whole worlds, physicians contain their patients, and the emotional and physical gestures of the urge to heal contain the whole fruitful and fruitless work of human connection.” ―Chris Adrian
“A History of the Present Illness is a collection of stories about doctors and their patients, and about the chronic and presenting situations that bring them to crisis. Eudora Welty described the work of another physician/story writer by saying that 'Chekhov's candor was exploratory and painstaking--he might have used it as the doctor in him would know how, treating the need for truth between human beings as an emergency,' words that seem to me to also apply here. Aronson's quest, too, is for that truth.” ―Antonya Nelson
“Some of the most startling and memorable stories I've ever read. A History of the Present Illness is a fascinating study of our fragile human condition, both physical and emotional. Here is a writer--and a doctor--whose empathy for her people, her characters, springs forth on every page.” ―Peter Orner
“In A History of the Present Illness, Louise Aronson reveals her remarkable range of voice, from bedwetting Cambodian girl to elderly Jewish man; from paralyzed Bad Boy to pampered ex-surgeon who drinks to forget her depression. If you've ever wondered what goes on behind the closed doors of the sick and the wounded--not on television or in movies but really--then this is the book for you. Compassionate and even anguished, though quietly, Dr. Aronson paints a dark, Rembrandtian portrait, where the faces are solemn, and the clothes and circumstances precisely fit to man, woman, and child. Fiction it may be, but it has the palette and the ring of truth.” ―Victoria Sweet, author of God's Hotel
About the Author
Louise Aronson has an MFA from Warren Wilson College and an MD from Harvard. She has received the Sonora Review prize, the New Millennium short fiction award, and three Pushcart nominations. Her fiction has appeared in Bellevue Literary Review and the Literary Review, among other publications. She is an associate professor of medicine at UCSF, where she cares for older patients and directs the Northern California Geriatrics Education Center and UCSF Medical Humanities. She lives in San Francisco.
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Product details
Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1 edition (January 22, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608198308
ISBN-13: 978-1608198306
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Customer Reviews: 4.3 out of 5 stars32 customer ratings
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,074,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#16885 in Short Stories (Books)
#2249 in Medical Fiction (Books)
#30476 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
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Louise Aronson
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Biography
Louise Aronson is a doctor, writer, educator, and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). A graduate of Harvard Medical School and the Warren Wilson Program for Writers, she is the author of a short story collection, A History of the Present Illness (Bloomsbury, 2013) and the forthcoming non-fiction Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, and Reimagining Life (Bloomsbury, June 11, 2019). Her articles and stories have appeared in publications including The New York Times, Narrative Magazine, and Bellevue Literary Review and have earned her a MacDowell fellowship, the Sonora Review Prize, and four Pushcart nominations. For her medical work, she has received the Gold Professorship in Humanism in Medicine, the California Homecare Physician of the Year award, and the American Geriatrics Society Clinician-Teacher of the Year award. Learn more at www.louisearonson.com.
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Customer reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top Reviews
Dr. Michelle
5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking collection of linked stories!
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2013
Verified Purchase
This book simply took my breath away. It's a series of fascinating, 'lightly-linked' short stories that all take place in the neighborhoods and hospitals of San Francisco, and all relate to medicine as it is actually practiced in the U.S. today. I call the stories 'lightly-linked' because the reader needs to pay attention to notice some of the connections and common characters deftly interwoven throughout. Although the linkages didn't really further the plot, they added an element of spice to the stories when I suddenly made the connections among the characters.
This book isn't exactly light reading. There's a lot of grim and sad material in here. I found tears in my eyes more than once, and finished the book with a heavy heart. It really reinforces how our health care system is failing for so many people - immigrants, children, veterans, the elderly, and also the doctors. So don't buy this expecting some kind of TV version of a medical soap opera; this book is gritty, real, and uncompromising.
Aronson astonishes in her ability to inhabit such a wide array of characters with such compassionate authenticity -- the elderly Chinese man who doesn't speak English and visits his demented wife daily; the recently returned Iraq war veteran; the mentally-disturbed psychiatrist; the child deeply traumatized by his mother's death -- all of these people and many more come alive in deftly-constructed prose. Sometimes Aronson's carefully-constructed prose is a bit too noticeable, as she experiments with a wide range of styles and voices throughout the book, but sometimes her prose is simply delicious, to the point that a single paragraph bears reading and re-reading. As with many story collections, I had my favorites, and others that I didn't like as much, and I'm guessing that these faves will differ for different readers.
Overall, I give this book a full five stars, mostly because I know enough about the field of medicine to know that the author has completely nailed it in this collection - she has written a book of such authenticity that it doesn't matter if it's fiction or non-fiction - it's simply the truth.
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9 people found this helpful
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David Biro
5.0 out of 5 stars Best short story collection I've read in years
Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2013
Verified Purchase
Louise Aronson is an exceptional writer. Although her new collection contains many "doctor stories" in the tradition of another great physician-writer, William Carlos Williams, it would be a mistake to pigeonhole them as such. These are stories about human beings facing difficult situations -- illness and death but also bad marriages, rebellious children and loneliness. The characters come from a variety of backgrounds, white middle class Americans to first generation immigrants, gulf war veterans and transvestites. And true-to-life, they don't find easy answers to their problems. We as readers watch them struggle to navigate and make sense of life's murkiness and can't help but sympathize.
Aronson's style is simple and direct. It is powerful in an understated and unsentimental way. She also likes to play with form - one story is told via the description of a series of snapshots, for example, another in the form of list of things a character knows about her mother-in-law. These innovative forms are both refreshing as well as insightful and clearly not done just for the sake of experimentation.
Louise Aronson is as good as Williams, Lahiri and Munro too. I bet many of these stories end up as staples in the best anthologies.
4 people found this helpful
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C. Hopkins
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Profound
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2020
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This book of interconnected stories is amazing. It’s about doctors, medicine, the tyranny and indignanty of illness and very old age. It’s a love letter to San Francisco. Don’t read it if you’re looking for something light or escapist. This is a serious book about profound subjects and real people; a flawless symmetry of substance and style. It is literary art in its highest form. Highly recommended.
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Bookish2
5.0 out of 5 stars The Doctor Is In and She's Excellent
Reviewed in the United States on September 27, 2014
Verified Purchase
This is such an intelligent, moving, inventive, and imaginative collection of stories written by an author who is both a devoted physician and a very talented writer. There are young, elderly, first-generation-immigrant, and physician narrators - a truly wide-ranging and original collection of stories. I think everyone should read it - there is so much here about health, happiness, the sheer difficulty at times of being alive, and the need for more humaneness in the world in this book.
One person found this helpful
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Joi Bythwood
2.0 out of 5 stars Uninteresting
Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2019
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I did not find the stories fluent or interesting. I expected more. I did not finish the book.
One person found this helpful
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katie lyle
5.0 out of 5 stars MEDS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2013
Verified Purchase
This is one of the best-written books I've read lately. It is full of wonderful, poignant stories-- which at the same time make a strong political statement about the aging American population and the disgrace of American medicine for that population. Highly recommended!
3 people found this helpful
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Semei
5.0 out of 5 stars A phenomenal book, I'm so sad it ended!
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2013
Verified Purchase
Dr. Aronson is a marvel. She is able to tell stories of depth and character while also informing her audience about the actual practice of medicine. I can't wait for her next book! Some of the stories resonated with me more than others, but all were absolutely outstanding!
5 people found this helpful
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Young at Heart
4.0 out of 5 stars Great short stories
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2013
Verified Purchase
Only complaint is, as with lots of short stories, I wanted to find out more about the characters and what happens to them. As a frequent traveler to San Francisco, it was interesting to get a look at a part of the city many never see.
2 people found this helpful
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A History of the Present Illness
Louise Aronson
A History of the Present Illness takes readers into overlooked lives in the neighborhoods, hospitals, and nursing homes of San Francisco, offering a deeply humane and incisive portrait of health and illness in American today. An elderly Chinese immigrant sacrifices his demented wife's well-being to his son's authority. A busy Latina physician's eldest daughter's need for more attention has disastrous consequences. A young veteran's injuries become a metaphor for the rest of his life. A gay doctor learns very different lessons about family from his life and his work, and a psychiatrist who advocates for the underserved may herself be crazy. Together, these honest and compassionate stories introduce a striking new literary voice and provide a view of what it means to be a doctor and a patient unlike anything we've read before.In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Abraham Verghese, Aronson's writing is based on personal experience and addresses topics of current social...
$6.33 (USD)
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Release date: 2013
Format: EPUB
Size: 2.11 MB
Language: English
Pages:
