When I finished reading Super Sick by Allison Alexander, my first thought was, well, heck, how am I going to review this book?!

Because, you know, as a blogger, that happens. Sometimes reviews are easy. Sometimes they’re hard. But this book was such a personal thing, and reading it is a personal journey, which makes reviewing it that much harder. Not everyone’s going to get the same thing out of it, necessarily.

So this will be half review and half discussion about chronic illness in literature, and you should just check out the book yourself if this piques your interest.

This post is also going to be a little unusual, because … well, how do you talk about something that’s such a personal affair? So welcome to my den, dear bookwyrms. Make yourself cozy, and let’s begin.

About the book …

When I was approached by the author to read this book, I had to think for a minute. I don’t read nonfiction very often, and I don’t normally review it on here when I do. Still, I had to say yes, because I have chronic conditions, too, and I don’t often find myself represented in books.

I mean, it’s a pretty specific, random combination. Who’s going to read a book with a main character who has asthma, gluten intolerence, PCOS, iron-deficiency anemia, hypothyroidism, and a random vertebra that likes to slip out of place if she gets lazy and doesn’t take care of it, thus pinching on a nerve and rendering her one leg a wet noodle at random intervals? Okay, no, wait, that last part might actually make for an entertaining character. Authors, work on it!

Ultimately, this book was a journey of self-acceptance and growth. Of pulling lessons from fiction and understanding that people with chronic illnesses can (and do) make wonderful characters.

We also happen to make wonderful people, too, and this book takes fictional characters and applies their struggles and life lessons to real life. As I said, the experience with this book will vary. If you have or know someone who has a chronic illness? I highly recommend this.

For someone with a chronic illness, this might be affirming and uplifting. No, you’re not the only one feeling the way you do. It might really make you stop and think, as it did for me, about your circumstances and how you want to approach life, in light of them. If you don’t have a chronic illness but know someone who does, this book is also very much for you, and can help you understand the things they don’t always say.

About the structure of this review

Because I couldn’t think of how to review this (without it being a book in and of itself), I’ve taken a bit of an unorthodox approach that hopefully y’all enjoy.

I thought it’d be fun to highlight some books that feature chronically ill characters.

This structure very much borrows from Alexander’s book, in which she dedicates each chapter to a specific chronically ill character and relates that to her own life and the lives of others with chronic illnesses. She also gives examples of characters for further reading (and sometimes viewing), if anyone’s interested. Some of the examples below are touched on in the book, but I tried to vary them. Quotes are from the book Super Sick, as well.

EDIT: I’ve since updated this post to include neurodiverse representation, too, which may or may not be considered chronically ill by some.

Heroes can be sick, too.

Being sick doesn’t make them any less of a hero. Sometimes it’s about answering the call when you can and knowing your limits.

• All Might, My Hero Academia – chronic degeneration due to injuries
• Doctor Strange, Marvel – nerve damage
• Nova Huang, Mooncakes – hard-of-hearing
• Princess Matilda, Handbook for Dragon Slayers – lame foot
• Hearthstone, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard – deaf
• Oscar Silva, Renegades – bone disease (uses cane)
• Victor Vale, Dominic Rusher, Vengeful – chronic pain
• Maya, Maya and the Rising Dark – anemia
• Tristan Strong, Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky – survivor’s guilt/PTSD/severe trauma

Chronically ill, yet chronically fierce.

Who said chronically ill characters can’t kick butt? These characters beg to differ.

• Harper, A Curse So Dark and Lonely – cystic fibrosis
• Izumi Curtis, Full Metal Alchemist – missing internal organs
• Dayna Walsh, Witches of Ash and Ruin – OCD and anxiety
• Kaz Brekker, Six of Crows – broken leg healed wrong (uses cane)
• Cyra, Carve the Mark – chronic pain
• Maika Halfwolf, Monstress – missing arm
• Red, The Girl in Red – prosthetic leg
• Jane McKeene, Deathless Divide – [REDACTED SPOILER]
• Harper Carlisle, The Devouring Gray – missing hand

Sick people can also save the day.

Could they just punch the bad guy in the face? Sure. But sometimes, cunning works, too.

• Raoden, Elantris – chronic pain
• Zane Obispo, Storm Runner – uneven legs (walks with cane)
• Iris, Song for a Whale – deaf
• Sunny, Akata Witch – albinism
• Oree Shoth, The Broken Kingdoms – blind
• Ella Malikova, Gemina – paralyzed from the waist down, lung illness (on oxygen)
• Finian, Aurora Rising – requires special exo-suit to walk
• Loretta Little, Loretta Little Looks Back – multiple sclerosis
• Selphin, Deeplight – deaf
• Kirra, If We Were Giants – severe PTSD/survivor’s guilt

He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.

Sick characters aren’t burdens, even if they sometimes think they are. They’re friends. They’re fathers. They’re mothers. They’re siblings. They’re important.

• Jushiro Ukitake, Bleach – tuburculosis-like illness
• Marie-Laure LeBlanc, All the Light We Cannot See – blind
• Jamie Lee, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind – ADHD
• Jasper Wishart, The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder – autism, synesthesia, face blindness
• Percy, The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue – epilepsy
• Heather & Holly, Into the Drowning Deep – deaf
• Avery, The Boy who Steals Houses – autism
• Eliza Mirk, Eliza and Her Monsters – anxiety
• The Dollmaker, The Dollmaker of Krakow – missing leg
• Caden Bosch, Challenger Deep – schizophrenia
• Grandpa, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer – dementia
• Zofia, The Gilded Wolves – Autism (never named)
• Blue, Sky Song – Down syndrome (never named)
• Nick, The Extraordinaries – ADHD

A final quote from the book …

Because some quotes are too good to leave out, and because what this book embodies, most of all, is optimism. Thus, this post should end on an uplifting point.

Super Sick: Making Peace with Chronic Illness

Superheroes aren't sick. This has been Allison Alexander's observation, anyway. They don't lie in bed all day because they're in too much pain to get up. They don't face the challenges of the chronically ill—difficulties that include socially inappropriate topics like mental illness, sex, and diarrhea. The latter, of course, would be exponentially worse in a spandex suit.

Alexander, who has struggled with a chronic illness since she was a child, wants to see herself in her heroes and searches for examples of sick characters in pop culture. She weaves her own painful experiences with stories from other chronic sufferers, engaging with how society values healthiness, how doctors don’t always have answers, and how faith, friendship, and romance add pressure to already complicated situations. If you're a fan of Marvel, Harry Potter, Final Fantasy, and other stories from pop culture, you may find some familiar references inside.

Journey through sage stories as Alexander makes peace with her illness despite a culture that suggests she’s worthless unless she’s healed.

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