Skip to main content

'Ok, let's do your stupid idea' A book by Patrick Freyne

 

Patrick Freyne's heartfelt memoir addresses the comic and tragic with a lightness of touch that makes reading it a joy.

For me a particularly affecting essay is when Patrick, describes his experiences supporting a young woman living with a significant disability and additionally disabled by the continual fractures in relationships that are characteristic of organised 'care'. Our systems of care continue to be modelled on an arcane system that removes people from their communities and families. Neither does it sustain or respect the relationships, of the people living in these systems. There are many strands here, touching on the value we put on roles that are vital for the functioning of our communities yet seem to be continually devalued. Of course, these roles are typically female roles. Freyne illustrates the genuine kindness displayed by those operating within this flawed system, yet also reveals how their benevolence cannot rectify the deep-rooted flaws within the very structure itself. It seems obvious that families need support to sustain them, that went people live independently they need to do so in a community of their choosing, with the option for continuity in their relationship and access to justice to rebalance the system in their favour. We know there are solutions, yet our view of what is possible is obstructed by the very system we are trying to change.

I left this book feeling like I knew Patrick, that he had shared a part of himself. Well done Patrick, it was a real pleasure getting to know you.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American Pastoral, American Berserk

This is a beautiful book, rendered in exquisite prose. If all of life is light and shadow, then American Pastoral shies neither from the light nor the shadow. It shows us unconditional parental love and the callous indifference of our societies at large. It takes a cold hard look at the essential contradictions in American society, and in doing so, is an essential autopsy of the American Dream. The central theme I took from the novel is that it asks what went wrong? How can our loved ones be capable of such terrible things? However, unlike other novels that have asked similar questions, I am thinking of 'We need to talk about Kevin’. by Lionel Shriver. Roth considers the interesting angle of having a familial relationship as almost entirely loving. With parents painstakingly, human, even superhuman. And yet, these horrors still enters their lives. Leaving us to wonder what causes this to go wrong. Roth shows how the political is personal, brushing your teeth is political...
Post a Comment
Read more

Half of a Yellow Sun a novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I was inspired to pick up this book after listening to Chimamanda's 2022 Reith Lectures on the Freedom of Speech. Chimamanda, argues that it feels like freedom of speech is under attack. She names cancel culture, arguments about “wokeness" (I am old enough to remember when we called this political correctness) and the stabbing of Salman Rushdie as producing this atmosphere. Meanwhile, autocrats, populists and an anti-science identity culture have undermined the very notion of an accepted fact-based truth which lives above politics. So how do we calibrate freedom in this context? 'Half of a Yellow Sun,' is as profoundly human, as it is unsettling. The terror and the domestic are cheek by jowl. They live side by side, in the same spaces. I have heard it said that Iris Murdoch's contribution to ethics is that she (along with other feminist philosophers) reframed ethics from the public to the intimate. Similarly, Adichie's narrative highlights that ethics canno...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

In her poignant account, Rebecca Skloot sheds light on how the biopharma industry has trampled on bodily autonomy, building their empires on the backs of individuals without their consent. Skloot's book tells the stories of unsung heroes in medical science and exposes the atrocities committed against marginalised communities. Skloot sensitively records the tragic loss of Henrietta Lacks, whose fundamental right to bodily integrity was ignored by society. It is a story of incomprehensible oppression and ignorance, where doctors watched patients die, solely to study the disease prognosis. This was evident in the Tuskegee experiments on untreated syphilis, which took place in the United States between 1932 and 1972. The biopharma industry made incalculable sums of money by taking Henrietta's cells without her knowledge or consent. The ongoing ethical and legal battle raises the question of how to balance scientific advancement with individual freedom. Sadly, commercial interests...
Post a Comment
Read more