The Brand New Catastrophe by Mike Scalise read online book TXT, MOBI, EPUB
9781941411339 English 1941411339 Winner of the Center for Fiction's Doheny Prize Raucous family memoir meets medical adventure in this heartfelt, hilarious book exploring the public and private theaters of illness. After a ruptured pituitary tumor leaves Mike Scalise with the hormone disorder acromegaly at age 24, he must navigate a new, alien world of illness maintenance. His mother, who has a chronic heart condition and a flair for drama, serves as a complicated model as she competes with him for the status of "best sick person." A moving, funny exploration of how we define ourselves by the stories we choose to tell. Mike Scalise's work has appeared in "The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Agni, Indiewire, The Paris Review" Daily, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf, Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and was the Philip Roth Writer in Residence at Bucknell University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York., Winner of the Center for Fiction's Doheny PrizeMike Scalise hits his stride in this page-turner of a memoir featuring a sudden and strange sequence of medical disasters. From its gripping ruptured-brain-tumor emergency room opening, through a series of medical procedures and oddball doctors, Scalise creates a sharply observed, uproariously funny, and deeply moving account of acromegaly, the hormone disorder best known for causing gigantism. Scalise weaves in meticulous research, social history, and vignettes about Andre the Giant and a variety of Hollywood acromegalic villains. He creates a narrative that is informative without feeling pedantic, demonstrating how he has marshaled the narrative of his life so that he can control it rather than being controlled by it.Although his medical story is the primary subject, the emotional engine driving the book is that of his relationship with his mother, a longtime sufferer in her own right, with a chronic cardiac condition likely exacerbated by her penchant for chain smoking and late-night white wine binges. Fraught, frustrating, and often very funny, Scalise's motheroften positioned as his competitor for the spotlight or the status of "best sick person"winds up being the book's unlikely hero.Mike Scalise's work has appeared in "Agni," "Indiewire," the "Paris Review," "Wall Street Journal," and other places. He has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf, Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and was the Philip Roth Writer in Residence at Bucknell University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York."
9781941411339 English 1941411339 Winner of the Center for Fiction's Doheny Prize Raucous family memoir meets medical adventure in this heartfelt, hilarious book exploring the public and private theaters of illness. After a ruptured pituitary tumor leaves Mike Scalise with the hormone disorder acromegaly at age 24, he must navigate a new, alien world of illness maintenance. His mother, who has a chronic heart condition and a flair for drama, serves as a complicated model as she competes with him for the status of "best sick person." A moving, funny exploration of how we define ourselves by the stories we choose to tell. Mike Scalise's work has appeared in "The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Agni, Indiewire, The Paris Review" Daily, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf, Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and was the Philip Roth Writer in Residence at Bucknell University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York., Winner of the Center for Fiction's Doheny PrizeMike Scalise hits his stride in this page-turner of a memoir featuring a sudden and strange sequence of medical disasters. From its gripping ruptured-brain-tumor emergency room opening, through a series of medical procedures and oddball doctors, Scalise creates a sharply observed, uproariously funny, and deeply moving account of acromegaly, the hormone disorder best known for causing gigantism. Scalise weaves in meticulous research, social history, and vignettes about Andre the Giant and a variety of Hollywood acromegalic villains. He creates a narrative that is informative without feeling pedantic, demonstrating how he has marshaled the narrative of his life so that he can control it rather than being controlled by it.Although his medical story is the primary subject, the emotional engine driving the book is that of his relationship with his mother, a longtime sufferer in her own right, with a chronic cardiac condition likely exacerbated by her penchant for chain smoking and late-night white wine binges. Fraught, frustrating, and often very funny, Scalise's motheroften positioned as his competitor for the spotlight or the status of "best sick person"winds up being the book's unlikely hero.Mike Scalise's work has appeared in "Agni," "Indiewire," the "Paris Review," "Wall Street Journal," and other places. He has received fellowships and scholarships from Bread Loaf, Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and was the Philip Roth Writer in Residence at Bucknell University. He lives in Brooklyn, New York."