View source for The Sickness by Alberto Barrera Tyszka

{{infobox1
|title=The Sickness
|sort= Sickness
|author=Alberto Barrera Tyszka
|reviewer=Louise Laurie
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=This slim books packs a punch.  Life and death and all those stages in between come under both the microscope and (in a way) analysed on the psychiatrist's couch for an elderly father and his adult son.
|rating=4.5
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=160
|publisher=Maclehose Press
|date=July 2010
|isbn=978-1906694500
|cover=1906694508
|aznuk=1906694508
|aznus=1906694508
}}

This literary novel is a slow burner.  But the very first page gives an insight into the beautiful language used throughout such as ''Medical people rarely used adjectives.  They don't need to.''  And later on there's another lovely sentence loaded with meaning and originality - ''Blood is a terrible gossip, it tells everything, as any laboratory technician knows.''  The opening chapter is located in a consulting room where a rather tense conversation is taking place.  The answer is extremely important to one man.
 
''The Sickness'' in this novel is twofold in its interpretation.  One is a physical sickness from which there is no return and the other appears to be all in the mind; a sickness of the mind, if you like.  The former concerns the father of Dr Miranda.  Dr Miranda deals with all forms of sickness on a daily basis.  It's his job after all and nothing really should surprise him.  And yet he delays and delays telling his father some dreadful news.  It seems that as long as the body in the hospital bed or on the operating table is not in any way related to the doctor/surgeon then everything is fine.  It's only a job and someone's got to do it.  But, and it's a big but - if that body belongs to a dear one, then the whole situation is turned on its head.  It's almost as if it's not only ... physician heal thyself but family member(s) of physician heal thyself.  And as time trundles along Dr Miranda becomes almost ill himself.  Now there's a paradox if ever there was one.  And, of course, despite the very best of intentions, blurts out the news at an inappropriate moment.
 
Dr Miranda is a man with a lot on his mind.  Alongside his father's situation, he's being pestered by a very persistent male patient.  He won't go away.  Even although the diagnosis is frank and brutally honest.  You're a healthy individual, now please go away and get on with your line and stop bothering me is the sum of it.  But this patient with his own brand of sickness has developments of his own ...
 
The reader is taken by the hand on these two very different but nevertheless painful journeys.  And as I read through the book, I became aware of the creeping loneliness of the 'annoying' patient.  Even although he truly thinks he's at death's door, he can somehow manage to rattle off long-winded emails to his doctor.  These emails just about stop short of giving his life story. 
 
Whereas with Dr Miranda's father he's a different patient.  He's gruff.  He wants to be left alone like a wounded animal.  Does he get his wish?  And in this moving novel, the central theme is all about human nature and how we cope with life's issues when thrown at us.  Do we sink or swim?  And Barrera Tyszka takes it all a stage further and puts to the reader various questions, if someone has a serious illness, should they be informed.  Bearing in mind that some people are able to cope better with bad news than others.  Or is ignorance bliss perhaps?  It is a moral and ethical dilemma indeed.  Even in delicate real-life situations.  
 
The language in ''The Sickness'' is taut, tense.  You know that every single word has been given careful thought.  Such is the writing and the subject matter that it all feels a bit claustrophobic, but in a good way.  Surprisingly, perhaps, I found myself laughing out loud at one point when father and son are on a expedition.  This is a beautifully written book with a philosophical flavour and could be relevant to real-life in many cases.  Recommended.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.
 
If this book appeals then you might also like to try [[Right to Die by Hazel McHaffie]].

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