![]() Jamison describes her time working as a medical actor: someone who pretends to be sick with a particular condition, with a particular list of symptoms and a specific background history (married or divorced, kids or no, dead brother, good job, etc). ![]() The book kicks off with the titular essay “The Empathy Exams”, which chronicles the author’s involvement in a fascinating but faintly disturbing exercise. Not every essay is equally riveting, but there are certainly moments so naked as to make some readers squirm, and it’s a powerful collection overall. It’s a strong collection, marked by intellectual restlessness, a knack for the arresting phrase, and an almost alarming honesty. Her debut collection of essays, The Empathy Exams, touches upon recurring themes of illness and pain, and our responses to the same. ![]() As with all good essays, her subjects tend to begin tightly focused but then spiral outward to include topics and questions that might not appear immediately relevant. ![]() Leslie Jamison is a novelist and essayist, and this book of diverse essays features work originally published in such outlets as Harper’s, Believer and Tin House. ![]()
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