Review of "The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness" by Suzanne O'Sullivan

Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan is an Irish neurologist who wrote the prize-winning book 'It's All in Your Head: True Stories of Imaginary Illness.' This book follows in the same vein, discussing illnesses that seem to have no somatic cause.

Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan

*****

The placebo effect occurs when a sick person receives a 'fake treatment' (like a sugar pill) and feels better anyway. It seems the mind can convince the body a fake treatment is the real thing.



The opposite is true as well. A person can exhibit ailments caused by their mind. Symptoms might include paralysis, blindness, headache, dizziness, coma, tremor, skin rashes, breathlessness, chest pain, palpitations, bladder problems, diarrhea, stomach cramps, or any other symptoms or disability one can imagine. This type of illness has been given many names over the years, including hysteria, conversion disorder, psychosomatic disorder, and functional neurological disorder (FND).



O'Sullivan observes that many people wrongly consider psychosomatic symptoms 'less real' than other medical problems She writes, "I struggle to see where this underestimation comes from....That the body is the mouthpiece of the mind seems self-evident to me, but I have the sense that not everybody feels the connection between bodily changes and the contents of their thoughts. So when a child becomes catatonic in the context of stresses....people are amazed and perplexed."

O'Sullivan became interested in childhood catatonia when she read a 2017 article about a 9-year-old girl in Sweden called Sophie. Sophie can't move, communicate, eat, or even open her eyes.....though medical tests show nothing wrong. Moreover, Sophie isn't unique. Other young girls in Sweden have fallen into similar catatonic states, suffering from a condition called 'resignation syndrome.'


A girl with resignation syndrome

The common factor among the resignation syndrome victims seems to be the fact that their families are asylum seekers. Sophie's family escaped persecution in Russia, and other catatonic girls belong to ethnic minorities like the Yazidi or the Uyghurs, who are oppressed in their home countries. If asylum isn't granted, the families will be deported.

Asylum seeking is a years-long process, and the families can feel like they're on trial....like they're being interrogated rather than listened to. O'Sullivan writes, "The asylum system seeks to find the mistakes that disprove an applicant's case, rather than looking for the evidence to prove it." O'Sullivan believes the children faced with possible deportation are under strain, and this induces the symptoms of resignation syndrome. Moreover, when granted residency the children usually wake up, albeit very very slowly.

Unfortunately many people look at psychosomatic symptoms as being 'fake' and untreatable. A physician called Dr. Olssen took O'Sullivan to visit two Yazidi sisters in Sweden - Nola (10) and Helan (11) - both of whom suffer from resignation syndrome.


Nola and Helan have resignation syndrome

O'Sullivan writes, "Dr. Olssen welcomed me because I was a neurologist. She hoped that I could find a [brain-related] explanation....that I would interpret the clinical signs and legitimize the girls' suffering and convince someone to help them. That Nola had been lying in bed for a year and a half without eating or moving had not been deemed impressive enough to get her the help she needed."

Oddly enough, though asylum seekers are found all over the world, resignation syndrome seems confined to Sweden, and affects only certain ethnic groups. O'Sullivan speculates the syndrome is not a biological or psychological illness in the Western sense, but rather a sociocultural phenomenon.

O'Sullivan goes on to write about additional sociocultural/psychosomatic illnesses, which manifest differently in diverse places and varying ethnic groups.

*****

The Miskito people indigenous to Nicaragua have outbreaks of a condition called grisi siknis, which appears as irrational behavior and hallucinations. Victims have been seen to have convulsions, foam at the mouth, rip off their clothes, run manically, hyperventilate, and break and eat glass. Miskito people don't believe grisi siknis is psychosomatic, but say it's caused by a spirit or demon that (usually) appears as a man.


Girl showing symptoms of grisi siknis


Boy showing symptoms of grisi siknis

*****

In the Kazakhstani cities of Krasnogorsk and Kalachi, many residents experienced a mystery illness that drove them from their homes. One victim, named Tamara, got sick at a community party. She tells O'Sullivan that she started to feel strange, light-headed and sleepy and had to leave the party early. Tamara then went home, went to bed, and didn't get up for a few days. Tamara recovered, but never went back to feeling as healthy as she had been before she fell asleep. Tamara was not an isolated case, and many people in the region experienced similar symptoms.


Kazakhstani woman with mystery sleeping sickness

*****

In 2016, an illness called Havana syndrome originated among Western diplomats in Cuba. American and Canadian State Department employees developed symptoms such as headache, earache, hearing impairment, dizziness, tinnitus, unsteadiness, visual disturbance, memory problems, difficulty concentrating and fatigue.




A woman with Havana Syndrome being examined by medical personnel

Most of the victims reported hearing a strange noise before their symptoms started, and speculation began that they had been subjected to a sound energy or sonic attack. The FBI and CIA looked high and low for traces of a sound weapon, but found none. Later, new victims appeared in China, and more recently in Serbia and India. Physicians aren't able to explain the sickness, and it appears to be a functional neurological disorder.


No sonic weapons were found

*****

In La Cansona, a region of Colombia, schoolgirls got caught up in a health crisis that began in 2014. The phenomenon began in a high school, when a group of girls - all in the same class - collapsed. Some just fell to the floor in a faint and some had convulsions. The condition spread quickly, and within a day, girls in several other classes got sick.


High school class in Colombia

By 2019, it was estimated that, out of 120,000 people in the area, as many as 1,000 girls had fallen ill. The villagers attributed the illness to an HPV vaccine administered years before, but doctors dismissed this as a cause.

*****

High school girls in Le Roy, a town in upstate New York, developed neurological symptoms in 2011. The manifestation began with a teenager name Katie Krautwurst, who woke from a nap to find she had developed involuntary movements and verbal outbursts reminiscent of Tourette's syndrome. Katie twitched and writhed and let out involuntary shouts. Katie's best friend Thera got sick next, and the disorder soon spread to other teenagers. Some victims had convulsions, others couldn't walk. Katie and Thera ultimately needed wheelchairs when the muscle jerks became so violent that they caused them to fall. Doctors could find no somatic cause and the girls were diagnosed with conversion disorder.


Katie Krautwurst was one of the first girls to develop neurological symptoms

A similar phenomenon occurred in Guyana in 2013, where the local people attributed the illness to 'Granny', the spirit of an old woman who lives in a cave.

*****

O'Sullivan discusses all these illnesses in detail, emphasizing that medical tests NEVER demonstrate a somatic cause and patients ALWAYS resist the idea they have a psychosomatic disorder.

O'Sullivan also goes on to discuss Western medicine vs. native remedies; attitudes of doctors to functional neurological disorders; the social stigma associated with having a 'fake' illness; the fact that psychosomatic disorders are attributed more often to females than males; her belief that people with psychosomatic disorders would improve with the correct treatment; the effect of the media on conversion disorders; the effect of culture and tradition on psychosomatic disorders; patients she's treated; and more.

The book is interesting and I liked the parts about O'Sullivan's travels; her interactions with people she met; victims she saw; foods she tried (like Colombian buñuelos (cheese donuts) and Kazakhstani mayonnaise soup); and more.


Buñuelos


Mayonnaise soup

On the downside, the narrative is somewhat repetitive and disjointed. Still, this is a fascinating subject and the book would probably appeal to readers interested in functional neurological disorders.

Thanks to Netgalley, Suzanne O'Sullivan, and Pantheon Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Last House on Needless Street: A Gothic Novel of Suspense" by Catriona Ward

For some time poor and orphaned children have been disappearing from the area around Needless Street. The abductions didn't get much publicity until a child from a good home vanished. This happened 11 years ago, when a six-year-old girl named Lulu disappeared during a family outing to the beach.

A man called Ted Bannerman - who had a troubled history - was questioned but had a solid alibi.



There were no arrests, and the public took to throwing rocks through Ted's windows, which are now covered with plywood.



As for Lulu's family, they couldn't cope with the loss. Lulu's mother left and her father died soon after the abduction, and Lulu's older sister Dee was left with unassuageable grief. Now Dee is determined to find the person who took her sister.



The story revolves around Ted Bannerman, who lives in the last house on Needless Street. In addition to himself, Ted's household includes his adolescent daughter Lauren who - during her weekend visits - zooms around the house on her pink bike and balks at doing schoolwork;



and Ted's cat Olivia, who consults the Bible for philosophical insights.



Ted drinks too much, is sloppy and overweight, and has a patchy scalp and long beard.



Ted sometimes makes dates with women on dating sites, but then only watches them and doesn't go over and speak. Most of Ted's outside interactions are with a neighbor he calls the chihuahua lady and a therapist he calls the bug man.



Ted dearly loved his (now) deceased mother, and frequently recollects her gauzy blue dress and their times together.



One day Ted finds he has an intrusive new neighbor who doesn't wish him well.

That's about all I can say without spoilers. Billed as gothic horror, this is a tricky story with layers of secrets. Some parts of the book are slow and overcomplicated, but it's a fascinating novel. Highly recommended.

I listened to the audiobook version and Christopher Ragland is an excellent narrator.

Thanks to Netgalley, Catriona Ward, and Tor Nighfire for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Eruption: A Novel" by Michael Crichton and James Patterson

This book, about a VERY dangerous volcano, is a collaboration between Michael Crichton and James Patterson. In the backstory, Michael's wife Sherri explains that Michael was interested in volcanoes, and had begun a book, whose working title was 'The Black Zone', before he died. Sherri found the partial manuscript in Michael's archives, and felt the book should be completed. Sherri considered various collaborators, and when she met James Patterson, she knew she'd found the right guy. The result is 'Eruption.'

*****

As the story opens, the Mauna Loa volcano - one of the five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii - is heating up, causing earth tremors, and getting ready to erupt.



Volcanologist Dr. John MacGregor (Mac), head of the Hawaiian Volcano Institute, determines the volcano will explode in about five days.



A volcano eruption is dangerous enough, but Mauna Loa is especially treacherous. Mac learns this when he's summoned to a meeting with some military brass, one of whom is Colonel James Briggs.



Briggs takes Mac to a huge lava tube (like a cave) in Mauna Loa, which is filled with storage receptacles containing radioactive herbicides.



The herbicides are SO souped up they can kill an entire tree in minutes. The bottom line is this: Should the herbicides get into the environment, they'll enter the atmosphere, contaminate the whole world, kill all the plants....and everyone will die. So, if the lava from Mauna Loa's eruption reaches the lava tube, it's all over.



One might ask, why did the military leave these SUPER dangerous storage receptacles in Mauna Loa? The answer is the army couldn't get funding from Congress to move the containers, and couldn't make a public fuss because the receptacles were filled with classified hush-hush pesticides.

For the rest of the book, Mac - along with his crew and the army - maneuver to divert Mauna Loa's red hot lava so it doesn't reach the receptacles. This involves things like blowing holes in the volcano; building walls; building dykes; and so on. All this must be done in five days, and in secret, so the public doesn't panic.



Of course the secret does leak, and a pair of volcano chasers and a narcissistic billionaire businessman descend on Hawaii. This trio thinks THEY should direct the 'rescue operation', and things get complicated and dangerous.

There are some striking scenarios, like people taking helicopters into Mauna Loa (before it erupts) so they can get pictures. The heat and ashes compromise the helicopter's rotors.....and you'll have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Of course there's plenty of death and destruction in the book....can you imagine falling into a lava flow?



The book is formulaic, but it's exciting, with engaging (if somewhat two-dimensional) characters. A movie is in the works already, which will probably be a popular action thriller.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Swift River: A Novel" by Essie Chambers

It's summer 1987, and in the New England town of Swift River, sixteen-year-old Diamond Newberry is troubled as usual. Ever since Diamond's father, Robert Newberry, disappeared seven years ago, she's the only Black person in town. Diamond is lonely and overweight, and she observes, "I am so fat I can't ride my bike anymore, so I let it get stolen on purpose....The bruises and stinging raspberries all over my body from weekly falls are constant reminders that the bike doesn't want me anymore."

Diamond lives with her mother, a White woman named Annabelle (Anna), who's very loving, but inept and addicted to prescription pills.



Since Anna's husband Robert has been gone for seven years, she hopes to get a death certificate, for the insurance money. Anna has a police report saying Robert's shoes, wallet, and keys were found beside the fast moving Swift River, but Anna hasn't filled out the proper papers, doesn't have witness statements, hasn't put a death notice in the papers, etc. So Anna has to go back and get her ducks in a row.



It's not clear whether Robert is dead or alive, but he vanished after being accused of theft, and after the police had taken to constantly driving by the house. Many people have reported seeing Robert here or there, but Diamond puts it down to racism - to White people being unable to distinguish one Black man from another.



Diamond and her Ma live in a dilapidated house with Robert's battered car still in the yard, but Anna doesn't drive and she and Diamond have to hitchhike or walk everywhere - including the Goodwill store where they buy their clothes.



Diamond has dreams though, and admits, "By the time I turn seventeen I want: a birthday party with German chocolate cake and friends, new clothes with the store smell still in them, [and] shoes that fit. I imagine leaving this place, leaving Ma. That thought hurts too much and I pinch it down to nothing." Still, Diamond is saving money from her part-time cleaning job at the Tee Pee Motel, and she's secretly signed up for Driver's Ed - to get her driver's license.



In the midst of this angst, Diamond gets a package from her Auntie Lena, whom she's never met. The package contains some keepsakes and a letter in which Auntie Lena says she's a nurse based in Atlanta, but is currently living in Woodville, Georgia. There she manages Newberry Fine Fabrics, the family business established way back in 1915, when the Newberrys migrated from Swift River to Woodville.



Diamond and Auntie Lena embark on a correspondence, and Diamond learns a lot about her history and her relatives. Auntie Lena says she and Diamond's father Robert grew up in Woodville together until the boy was seven-years-old. At that time, Robert's father took him up to Swift River, to be raised by Aunt Clara. When Robert grew up he met Anna in Swift River, and they fell in love, got married, and had Diamond.



The story shifts around between three time periods: 1987, 1915, and 1980.

1987
In 1987, Diamond is living with her doting mother whom she both loves and from whom she wants to escape. In short, Diamond wants to live in a place with people who look like her. Diamond also dreams of going to college and being a botanist. Diamond becomes friends with a Driver's Ed classmate named Shelly, who's 'a loose girl' with a good heart.



Diamond and Shelly's interactions with the driving teacher, Mr. Jimmy, are quirky and - for Shelly - inappropriate.



1915
In 1915, toxic discrimination leads to an exodus of all Black people from Swift River, in an incident called 'The Leaving.'



The ONLY Black person who remains in Swift River is Aunt Clara, an apprentice to the local doctor, who says he'll help her go to medical school at Howard University. Aunt Clara's voice and story are heard in letters she sends to her sister (Auntie Lena's mother) in Georgia.



1980
In 1980, nine-year-old Diamond and her parents take a trip south and have some trouble in town. Later that year, Robert disappears.

In the course of the story we learn about the historic racism in Swift River, which in 1915, was a 'sundown town.'



At that time, Swift River had signs all over town reading, "N....., don't let the sun go down on you in Swift River."



Things are less toxic in 1987, though Diamond is uncomfortable being the only Black person in Swift River. I was surprised that Robert and Anna, an interracial couple, (apparently) didn't experience overt discrimination on that score. Diamond IS called a name by a classmate in elementary school, which causes a small brouhaha.

The story has humor and heart, one of the high points being Diamond's family, who love one another, but have a hard time getting by in difficult circumstances. For one thing, Ma and Pop disagree about visiting relatives in Georgia. It's good to see Diamond mature over the course of the story, and take charge of her life.



Swift River was Jenna Bush Hager's June, 2024 'Book Club Pick.' Hager noted, "Swift River is a story filled with secrets: community secrets and family secrets. It is a book that made me cry and then filled me with enormous hope."

I enjoyed this well-written, enlightening book. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Netgalley, Essie Chambers, and Simon and Shuster for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars