Field Guide to Falling Ill

The inaugural winner of the Yale Nonfiction Book Prize, this debut collection from Gleason contains enlightening and beautifully written essays on illness and medicine. The title entry recounts his time as a medical interpreter at a free clinic who became a patient himself when a blood clot was discovered in his left shoulder. His experiences highlight the challenge of expressing one’s pain and the tendency of doctors to treat diseases and symptoms rather than the person as a whole. “Blood in the Water” is structured as letters written to Gaëtan Dugas, the man who was mistakenly identified as “Patient Zero” of the AIDS epidemic in North America, as Gleason awaits results after an inconclusive HIV test, wishing for “illness unbounded from guilt and history.” In “Gilead,” he discusses his attempts to get on a pre-exposure prophylactic, or PrEP, while in a relationship with an HIV-positive partner. He explains the science and business of PrEP while also showing how “you can lose someone, not by hurting them or forcing them away, but simply by holding them at arm’s length.” Other essays discuss public shootings, prison, opioids, organ donation, and a doctor accused of killing his patients. Each sparkles with clarity and precision, rendering complicated concepts accessible and stimulating. This is a triumph. (Jan.)