Powerful, informative, touching and often hard to read. This is a deft blend of personal memoir, political treatise and science lesson. Highly recommended.

This book was both a personal and scientific look at a common disease that is uncommonly spoken about. I had barely heard of it prior to reading this and was surprised to learn how many people around the world have been affected by it. The book talks about the author's family and their experience with the disease, and explores some of the medical science behind it. I felt as if the author was almost apologetic in writing this book, which gave it an offputting tone. Rather than be sorry about seeking input from an expert in the field, for example, she should have projected more confidence in reporting this story.

Love Tin House and their varied selections, so I will always read whatever they come out with. This isn’t my typical type of read, but very interesting and well done.

THE KISSING BUG: ⭐️⭐️🌗

I found this to be hard to get through in parts and remarkably relatable in others.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt that it was too heavily weighted towards biography and could have explored the science in more detail. I liked Daisy Hernández’s conversational tone and her very clear explanations of the science. The use of actual cases was also very good, bringing the disease away from just stats and into real people. I didn’t find the pacing consistent and there were times that I wanted her to get on with the story. In addition, I found the writing to sometimes be overly-sentimental and that the use of Spanish words was somewhat disruptive as sometimes she explained what they meant and sometimes less so. I thought that the points on neglected tropical diseases and the “epi divide” were very well made. Overall this book is well worth reading. Thank you to Netgalley and Tin House for the advance reader copy.