Review: Beautiful Affliction by Lene Fogelberg

Beautiful Affliction

by Lene Fogelberg

Publisher: She Writes Press

Pages: 352

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Lene Fogelberg is dying—she is sure of it—but no doctor in Sweden, her home country, believes her. Love stories enfold her, with her husband, her two precious daughters, her enchanting surroundings, but the question she has carried in her heart since childhood—Will I die young?—is threatening all she holds dear, even her sanity. When her young family moves to the US, an answer, a diagnosis, is finally found: she is in the last stages of a fatal congenital heart disease. But is it too late?


Kritters Thoughts:  A memoir that read like fiction and from page one made me appreciate living in a country where healthcare is a priority.  Lene grew up in Sweden and as a child was diagnosed with a "heart murmur", but the doctor did not follow up and did not encourage Lene and her family to check back in as she grew.  As an adult with two children she gets another check up in the United States and the doctor immediately schedules open heart surgery to fix a valve.  

I love how this book was set up with alternating chapters, the ones in italics are stories from Lene's past from childhood and through adulthood as she dealt with her unknown condition.  The alternating chapters are current times and she has moved to the United States and is headed to the doctor and then diagnosed.  I liked that she included stories from childhood thru dating and giving birth to her girls it gave the story some depth and made it feel so much more hole than if she had left that out.

If you tend to stay away from memoirs, try this one out, it read like fiction.  I am now thankful to have great healthcare and to be a mostly healthy person.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from BookSparks PR.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.