incredibly educational

Unsurprisingly, I learned so much from this succinct, emotional, comprehensive, and factual collection of information about a disease and its effects I really had to prior knowledge of. I think I am one of many readers who probably (hopefully) had several moments while reading where it became clear to them that, although unjust, the lack of more widespread knowledge on this disease and its effects is so deeply rooted in issues concerning colonialism, racism, poverty, and lack of resources that are available to the rich but overlooked as a priority for the poor. I think Green's way of outlining and organizing information about tuberculosis as a tangible scientific thing combines perfectly with its intangible aspects (aka, how it deeply impacts every aspect of humans like Henry's lives). Framing all of the overlapping information and history through the testimony of Henry is a fantastic writing device as well as testament to Green's deep personal investment in tuberculosis as something that interests him while not directly targeting him. I was moved by the consistent descriptions of Henry's tenacity, vigor, moments of decline, family matters, and eventual recovery. His is a story that I understand to have impacted Green in a lifelong by the way he writes about him as well as how he utilizes his story as a means for hope and shedding light on how the disease exists and devastates in areas like Sierra Leone.
I also really appreciated how Green wrote about OCD from his own perspective and related this particular type of mental illness to understandings of TB in a delicate, educated way. Reading the specific ways Green uses this book and narrative to shape the concepts of stigmatization and romanticization for both TB and OCD felt like he'd peeked into my own mind and first hand experiences as a woman who's lived with diagnosed OCD since she was 6 years old. Green's well-conducted research and well-expressed findings and conclusions based on all that research make his writing sensational, in the novels of his I've greatly enjoyed as well as this nonfiction gem. 


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Some of my favorite quotes from Everything is Tuberculosis:

"Nothing is so privileged as thinking history belongs to the past."

"Stigma is a way of saying, “You deserved to have this happen,” but implied within the stigma is also, “And I don’t deserve it, so I don’t need to worry about it happening to me."

"People who are treated as less than fully human by the social order are more susceptible to tuberculosis but it’s not because of their moral codes or choices or genetics, it’s because they are treated as less than fully human by the social order."

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