Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 3 reviews on
"I drive and say to myself, if I am dying, if this is how I die, then this is how I die." When N. West Moss finds herself bleeding uncontrollably in the middle of a writing class, she manages to drive herself to the nearest hospital. Doctors are baffled, but eventually a diagnosis--uterine hemangioma--is rendered and a hysterectomy is scheduled. In prose both lyrical and unsparing, Moss takes us along through illness, relapse, and recovery. And as her thoughts turn to her previous struggles with infertility, she reflects on kin and kinship and on what it means to leave a legacy.
Moss's wise, droll voice and limitless curiosity lift this narrative beyond any narrow focus. Among her interests: yellow fever, good cocktails, the history of New Orleans, and, always, the natural world, including the praying mantis in her sunroom whom she names Claude. And we learn about the inspiring women in Moss's family--her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother--as she sorts out her feelings that this line will end with her. But Moss discovers that there are ways besides having children to make a mark, and that grief is not a stopping place but a companion that travels along with us through everything, even happiness.
A remarkably honest memoir about heartache and healing, Flesh & Blood opens up a conversation with the millions of women who live with infertility and loss.
Author of the FAITHLESS ELECTOR SERIES #thrillers - #BASTARDVERDICT is out now! Avail at the link below
@YorkshireBook48 Act One, by Moss Hart. Also (more a memoir), West with the Night, Beryl Markham.
The Program of Narrative Medicine at Columbia University is the leader in narrative best practices and team-based healthcare #narrativemedicine
Congratulations to #narrativemedicine Certificate alumnx N. West Moss (@scoutandhuck) who was shortlisted for the Gladstone’s Library (@gladlib) 2023 Writers-in-Residence program in Wales, for her 2021 memoir, FLESH & BLOOD, published by @AlgonquinBooks. https://t.co/L2Rp1h4Qya
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Listen to this wonderful convo: Kerry Nolan of @AllOfItWNYC talking about #FleshandBlood: Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating a Bountiful Life—"the sweetest, funniest horror story I've ever read"—with author N. West Moss @scoutandhuck https://t.co/6Ozxurf80T
"N. West Moss doesn't romanticize our world; she loves it honestly, in all its messiness. As I read Flesh Blood I saw not only that world but also the human body anew. This memoir is a tender, elegant, wry meditation on being a woman, being sick, and recovering; on reading and nature; on loving foremothers and rendering them into history with word rather than womb."
--V.V. Ganeshananthan, co-host, "Fiction/Non/Fiction" podcast, Literary Hub, and author of Love Marriage
"Part journey into the dark crevices of illness, but also a paean to the joys of the daily world, N. West Moss opens her arms wide and embraces the reader with her brilliant--and hilarious--observations. This book uncovers the wonderful 'brightness in the middle' for anyone who has navigated medical puzzles, grief, or just . . . life."
--Marie Myung-Ok Lee, author of Somebody's Daughter
"N. West Moss brings us on a journey that is both medical and spiritual. We experience the vertiginous churn of diagnosis and treatment, but also the liberating clarity of connection with the world. Honest, thoughtful, and courageous."
--Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD, author of When We Do Harm: A Doctor Confronts Medical Error
"A captivating, multilayered story of perseverance. It turns out that the real subject of Flesh Blood is not so much illness as the author's ever-regenerating powers of vision, her appreciation of the tangible world, the beauty of the here and now."
--Zachary Lazar, author of Vengeance
"An amazing book! Moss has a gift for describing stones, plants, celery soup and even praying mantises as needed accompaniments to sickness and recovery, along with her kind husband and generous mother. Her singular stories, honesty, and sly humor infuse this memoir of illness not with sadness, but joy."
--Theresa Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Shift
"With a series of gentle incisions, this memoir cuts deep. Moss shows us a grief and gladness that, until now, we could not name."
--Martha Witt, author of Broken As Things Are