Girl's Guide

            The author brings many pieces of her life to this book, you get a strong sense of who she is and the different influences on her, as well as a look into her medical struggles.  For such a short book, the reader gets a lot of information.  Looking back on the experience of reading I can’t believe the book is so short, I felt like I spent more time with the author than just 30 something pages.  Without forcing anything, the author tells you so much about her.  Each scene and conversation brings in a lot of new thoughts and experiences without seeming irrelevant or stand-alone.  I liked the snap-shot feel of this book, and the fast pace it went.  I wanted to know more, but even without an answer to all my questions, the book ended at a natural place, I didn’t feel that it ended abruptly. 

            The author’s humor is what really made me connect to her.  Being able to infuse humor in what are sometimes painful memories is difficult to do, even when looking back at a past experience.  This may be effecting her life still, so a lot of these issues may not just be in the past.  How the author punctuated scenes with humor, and sometimes other peoples humor, not just her own, was something she did with good timing.  This was used for a last say on a subject, or to bring a scene to a close.  It went beyond giving the reader a laugh, but also gave the piece structure, the humor was a force within the book that helped create the book, just as much as the tumors or her family history.  Even when the situation seems dire, how the author sees the world cannot be separated from humor.  When in extreme pain or dealing with impolite doctors, humor is the only way through the situation.      

            The author gives you snapshots of her family.  Her mother, who is rebellious and strong willed.  Her father, who welcomes her to her Nigerian family with a wholesome, and matter of fact type of love.  It’s interesting that this is something that she comes back to over and over, that she can keep investigating over the course of her book and life.  She is someone who defies easy categorization, and does not align herself fully with one of her two parental origins.  Her therapist describes her as being next to herself, not quite centered, maybe not at peace with herself in some respects.  She references Ala, a Goddess of Africa, just as often as she references Loki, a Norse God.  She feels that she may be receiving divine punishment, “But according to Igbo tradition, illness is the result of offenses committed against Ala, the land, or against one’s own spirit-double, or against one’s ancestors.” (Adiele, location 272).  Even her Nordic side seems displeased with her, “All that Loki has left me is a crop of trickster tumors in my womb.” (Adiele location 371).  Not being fully from one origin has left her with double the amount of angry Gods.  She has twice the opportunity to blame and punish herself.  She may not feel that either side has fully claimed her, but she has been influenced by each of her traditions.  Each tradition interweaves with the other, creating a unique lens with which to navigate the United States.  Her personal story and beliefs are a beautiful mixture with respect for both.  

            I found the author’s interaction with her doctors a bit scary.  Having a painful medical condition is terrifying enough without medical professionals who are not always giving you all the information or letting you know about all the options available to you.  Her journey through different hospitals and doctors was not a comforting one.  When one doctor suggested she get a hysterectomy I was chilled by the doctor’s casual talk about the procedure, one that cannot be undone and can create huge changes in the body.  The author has friends and community who help her through this confusing time.  With her friend, whose father is a doctor, and her medical school roommates, she is able to navigate through all the half-baked information she’s given and find a medical plan that works for her.  The holistic medicine she explores sounded interesting, I wonder if she kept it up over time and how she feels about it now.

The author repeats many times that one of the tumors is the size of a grapefruit, the size of a fetus.  Grappling with something living inside you that isn’t a child does not sound comfortable.  In fact, she often pretends that the tumors are children, to give her pain a reason.  I can’t imagine what that must feel like, not just the pain, but every moment you have alone with your body is spent with the knowledge that there are large tumors growing within you.  It must be hard to concentrate, to not spend a lot of time imagining what they look like and how they might be growing, how even at that moment, your body is delivering blood to them.  Thankfully, the tumors are benign, her life is not in danger, but the journey of dealing with this medical condition has only just begun.

-Iris Keenan