Life Sciences by Joy Sorman

Author:Joy Sorman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Restless Books
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

After Switzerland there’ll be a new salvo of endocrinologists, chiropractors, mesotherapists, naturopaths, and even gynecologists, of hypnosis and relaxation sessions, yoga classes, and a magnetizer. It’s never-ending, addictive, a medical frenzy, Ninon runs around like a headless chicken, her efforts are fruitless, and it’s as if the object (the pain) of her erratic quest has receded to the background; it hasn’t disappeared, of course, the pain remains exhausting though somewhat eroded by force of habit—Ninon’s used to it, more or less—but consulting doctors, every type of specialist, has become one of those inflationary experiences worthy in their own right.

If Ninon’s pain were to disappear, she might not even notice, a hamster in her cage, too busy consulting, receiving new diagnoses, testing new methods, intensely scrutinizing the enigmatic faces of all those medical professionals. And far from weakening her, this mania, this obsession with doctor visits, is keeping her alive, keeping her rage intact.

Ninon gave up on graduating this year, a decision her mother noted without commentary, she turned eighteen, not that she cared, or wanted to celebrate her birthday—Esther still insisted on putting a present by her door, a pretty cashmere scarf—doesn’t care about anything anymore except the impenetrable mystery that is her skin, her friends are long gone, Ninon is elsewhere, and her mother is nothing but a furtive shadow whose sole mission is to negotiate with the insurance company agents to convince them that her daughter’s dizzying list of treatments is justified; that’s all she can and wants to do.

Ninon continues the back-and-forths between her bedroom and doctor offices, a hypnotic oscillation, alternating between periods of calm and bursts of despair that erupt in massive waves then ebb, and sometimes, in a daze, she rocks in her chair like her mad ancestresses undoubtedly once did, droning, moaning—why, goddammit?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.