The Invisible Kingdom

Reimagining Chronic Illness

De: Meghan O'Rourke

Narrado por: Meghan O'Rourke

A landmark exploration of one of the most consequential and mysterious issues of our time: the rise of chronic illness and autoimmune diseases

A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: These are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.

Drawing on her own medical experiences, as well as a decade of interviews with doctors, patients, researchers, and public health experts, O’Rourke traces the history of Western definitions of illness, and reveals how inherited ideas of cause, diagnosis, and treatment have led us to ignore a host of hard-to-understand medical conditions, ones that resist easy description or simple cures. And as America faces this health crisis of extraordinary proportions, the populations most likely to be neglected by our institutions include women, the working class, and people of color.

Blending lyricism and erudition, candor and empathy, O’Rourke brings together her deep and disparate talents and roles as critic, journalist, poet, teacher, and patient, synthesizing the personal and universal into one monumental project arguing for a seismic shift in our approach to disease. The Invisible Kingdom offers hope for the sick, solace and insight for their loved ones, and a radical new understanding of our bodies and our health.

©2022 Meghan O'Rourke (P)2022 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“An authentically original voice and, perhaps more startlingly, an authentically original perspective….The book is not only a memoir of her illness, but also a document of years of research.” —Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-winning author of The Noonday Demon, in The New York Times Book Review

“The Invisible Kingdom is an important and powerful book in many ways, but perhaps its most valuable contribution is the way it articulates the loneliness and frustration of having symptoms that superficially resemble the pains and pressures of contemporary life in the United States while being much more severe.”—The Nation

“[O’Rourke] gives shape and color to the invisible life of patients whom society has failed. She offers hope for patient-driven change. Most important, she provides an account that many will be able to relate to—a ray of light into those isolated cocoons of darkness that, at one time or another, may afflict us all.” —The Wall Street Journal

Chronic illness

The author doesn’t pull any punches. Chronic illness is awful and victories are rare. I’m not sure I would recommend this book to someone with a chronic illness but I would surely recommend it to friends and family of those with a chronic illness- especially those with long COVID, ME-CFS, Lyme disease, and autoimmune diseases. I’m glad that I listened to the audiobook and that I didn’t read the book jacket - I listened based on a friend’s recommendation.

Knowledge is power!

Nobody should judge anyone’s illness. Doctors are not the know all of our bodies; trust ourselves

Insight into auto-immunity disease

Meghan’s journey through the jungle of symptoms, traditional and non-traditional medical treatments and experiences gave me a better understanding of my own and family members’ fight against auto-immune disorders. Thank you.

Comforting, Validating with Fact Finding Reports

Thank you Meghan O'Rourke for your travel log and destination IK journal entries. As a fellow IK explorer, and now a guide for advanced hikers, you had me laughing and crying as so many of your expressions mirror my feelings and experience. One obstacle Ii haven't overcome on this adventure is finding the words to convey my own perspective. Thank you for giving me a better handle on the language and introducing new idioms to me. I hope all those struggling to accept their current quality of life while staying hopeful and motivated enjoy this book as thoroughly as I did. @hp_wellnesscoach for @chronicwellnesscollective I'd love to meet you for a Washington hike and see the whales.

So informative!

I loved everything! As someone with an autoimmune condition, I learned so much from this book

Such an insightful book

I loved this book, anyone who suffers from chronic illness or has loved ones who do should read this book.

I was healthy until a head injury! Eds and ptsd and TBI…

Loved how you came to a place of functioning again. I have had fits and starts. The grief is real. I hope I find cures too.

Humbling. Heart-Opening. Disturbing.

I have just finished listening to the audio book of The Invisible Kingdom. I heard an CPR interview by the author on Monday and bought the book directly after. The book was released this morning and I have just finished listening.

I was riveted by the narrative. I have known several people whose lives resemble Meghan O’Rourke’s. Going from doctors to spiritualists to nutritionists, etc.

My best friend is a primary care physician who talks about the broken system even as she advocates for her patients - patients that no other doctor will see. Hers are the difficult patients, one’s who are not healing, who are cranky and I’ll-tempered from a lifetime of inept medical care. Whose minds are filled with fear and loss and weariness. Who seek hope where none is available.

My friend is no fan of our way of working with healing, and set out to change it. Now she is slowing (well not so slowly) going bankrupt as her care far exceeds the payments made for it.
She works 7 days a week, and I worry for her.

This book has opened my eyes to so many things. Why the “wellness” model is so very inadequate for most Americans. Why the need for Universal Health Care is so necessary. Why treating the whole person, the whole family, and the whole community is necessary.

COVID-19 has changed us forever. Yet for Meghan and thousands of others it was another SNAFU. Long-COVID will demand - is demanding that the US health Care System change now. We must take Ms. O’Rourke’s message to heart. For far too many of us are suffering, everyday. Far too much potential is lying prone unable to stand, let alone work.

Listening to this unending story was uncomfortable for me. I am uncomfortable with illness, with illness that is unrelenting. I do not know what to say. I too have subscribed to the “meaning in the illness” narrative. I have not known what to say at the bedsides of my friends.

I still do not know, but simply sit and hold hands in the silence.

Every time I walk into a store I am repulsed by the amount of chemicals inside, chemicals that go into our ground water and into our bodies, and into every living creature on this planet.

Meghan reveals how fragile life is. In her well-told revelations I found myself leaning in, wishing to understand, but also not to turn away. Somehow, in this story I found the endurance to listen, to let the story work me. I am changed. I am sorry. I am humbled that this is not my story, and hope it never will be.

I am also grateful to know more than I did yesterday. I will also be thinking about healing, it’s many forms. This is a book I will be recommending often. It is important.

Milestone of understanding

This is a very important book and if it could be taught in medical schools it would make an astounding difference within a few years. For every person with a serious chronic illness, and there are some uncertain millions of those, multiply that by 10 for the number of family members who are seriously impacted and have a difficult time understanding. Another factor of 10 probably even higher, for the number of friends impacted. Now consider the millions in the medical world. Add that up and probably have the people United States would benefit from reading this book and understanding what friends and family with serious chronic illnesses go through to cope with and attempt to resolve their illness. I will never look at someone with one of these conditions the same way.

Gripping and essential reading

Meghan does a beautiful job weaving her own struggle into a broader narrative about chronic illness and the shortcomings of our medical system. I related to so much of her story.