It is not okay for society (or specific people) to make us – the disabled, the chronically ill – feel unwelcome, unworthy, or worse just because we are ill. Often this seems to be normalized.

However, it is okay to be struggling with this difficult subject that can be overwhelming. I know I am, having had my fair share of shite – even today after being ill for eighteen years there are still those who lack understanding my boundaries and poor quality of life, and there is no need to be embarrassed about it. Life is hard enough as it is.

I don't want to be locked into battle with life (jealousy, anger, resentment), this is a toxic way of thinking and only adds to the misery. And for that we need books like these!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Not for me. I found it a bit repetitive and some of the chapters seemed to circle around without actually having a point. It does show what it's like to be young and diagnosed with a chronic illness and may be useful to newly diagnosed, especially anyone who feels alone

Poor Little Sick Girls by Ione Gamble explores experiences of being diagnosed with and living with illness as well as issues such as social media, feminism, identity politics, the patriarchy, depictions of illness, medical sexism and racism.

This was a great read - super easy and flowed so nicely. I raced through it which is always a good sign!

Poor Little Sick Girls

This book is a call to arms, a letter to people with chronic illnesses to be seen, to be heard, to not be ignored.

Ione Gamble's raw and engaging essays explore what it is like to live with chronic illness. Not only does Ione provide sharp insights in having a life which she didn't imagine and the grief around coming to terms with her illness but she also looks at the way illness is seen by society. Weaving the way the wellness industry, patriarchy's gaze, capitalism and the productivity twist the way illness is seen.

This is an empowering book not only for people with chronic illnesses but for everyone to understand, listen and take action.

Thank you @netgalley for the ebook copy.

I was looking forward to reading "Poor Little Sick Girls" by Ione Gamble, as in my opinion, voices of chronically ill folks are still underrepresented in the wider discourse. There is no doubt that Gamble is a talented writer who's good with her words. Some sentences definitely made me go: "Preach!". What I found lacking was what makes the final book readable: good editing as well as bibliography and sources. I understand that "Poor Little Sick Girls" is a collection of personal essays, but when one decides to reference data, citations are needed.

Funny, provocative, well endowed and a mindfully written book to which I could relate at every words and paragraphs since I suffer from chronic mental illness.
A wonderful book that made me think quite a lot.

As someone with a chronic health condition this book was always going to appeal to me on those grounds but the exploration of other topics such as sexism, discrimination and societal expectations were eye opening and made the book a fascinating read.
It is important to remember that there is no lone cause to support - everything is interlinked

I loved this! Really well written, informative and funny all at the same time. As someone who has a family member with a chronic illness, I found myself agreeing, laughing and passing on bits of Ione’s writing. I think she’s got a very perceptive insight into the specifics of being a young woman with a chronic illness in today’s digital society and it’s definitely something we should all be reading about and talking about more.

As someone who has several chronic health conditions, I was interested in reading this book just from the synopsis. We see a lot of characters onscreen in films & TV shows & on the page in books about what your teens/early twenties are supposed to look like (dating, partying, starting out on your career), but what happens when your body doesn't allow you the same options as your peer group? Instead of being able to just go out & enjoy yourself or enrol on the course you want to do, you are stuck at home or have to factor in medication regimes &/or managing your fatigue.

The author notes that "Being chronically ill is like having the most depressing and time-consuming side-hustle in the world". YES! It is EXACTLY like that. You have to be an expert in your condition to advocate for yourself, & then there's the 'admin' side of illness, where you spend hours of your life chasing hospitals, GPs, & assorted others for appointments, diagnoses, letters, & medication updates. It is relentless & if you are unfortunate enough to have a condition which doesn't fit neatly into the box they want it to, it can feel like you are basically ignored for being just too complicated for them to deal with. (OK, rant over).

Becoming ill at any time of life is bad enough, but becoming ill in what people think are your "best years" can be soul-destroying as you are left behind by your peer group. I agree with the author when she writes that you have to find a new way of being present in your life in spite of how society views people who are marginalised, with the focus here obviously being on those marginalised by health or body issues. The author is honest about their struggles & about how their condition affects all aspects of their life. It does wander into side alleys about feminism at times & how the emphasis on individual responsibility has moved both feminism & other class-related issues, such as wellbeing, from agitating for societal change to only focusing on the self & the detrimental effects this can have. Overall it was an interesting read, it was written in a very chatty informal way, & it was comforting to know that other people out there are having similar experiences to yourself.

My thanks to NetGalley & publishers Little, Brown Book Group UK/Dialogue Books, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

As someone with chronic pain, I was really looking forward to the release of this book. While I felt that the essays were sharp and thought-provoking, I wasn't a fan of how judgemental the author was at times. As such, it didn't quite live up to my expectations but I'm sure that a lot of readers will enjoy this a lot more and even find it relatable.

2.5 rounded down

As a fellow sufferer of an auto-immune disease and someone who feels strongly about the need for women to be actually listened to (and believed) when they feel unwell and seek medical assistance (from personal experience but also more generally!) I really wanted to love this but in many of the essays I felt like the point was constantly being circled without much being said. Not for me!

This book is smart, addictive, wry and insightful. As a chronically ill person I really resonated with this handy book! Recommend for all!

Brilliant collections of essays exploring the every day of suffering from a chronic illness. I don't suffer with a chronic illness, but my wife does, and I could see many of her experiences reflected here.

This was a wonderfully written collection of essays on living with chronic illness. It also touched on other topics, such as feminism and social media. The author wrote the book in such a way that it will be accessible to many people (chronic illness sufferers and anyone who wants to understand better the challenges they bring). I really enjoyed reading the experiences and thoughts from the author, and as a fellow chronic illness sufferer, I feel I got something back from it too.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for a. honest review.

It is exhausting as well as financially draining to be disabled. While here in the US the disability rights movement lags far behind the UK, it is refreshing to see this woman across the pond doing this activist work calling feminism back from post-capitalism girlboss culture and wellness back from online marketing. Should be read by everyone, not just because of us with chronic illness.

Ione Gamble is the founding editor in chief of Polyester zine and host of the Polyester podcast and this is a collection of essays about her becoming chronically ill at the age of 19. Seh writes about grappling with girl boss feminism and identity written from the perspective of her sick bed and concern her obsession with self care and her issues with being overweight.

While dissecting many of todays issues, being a woman on the internet and life inside a sick body, Ione manages to keep this book accessible, humorous, relatable and extremely engaging.

This is an excellent collection of essays on chronic illness, feminism. class, social media and creative industries for anyone who feels marginalised in todays society.

As a 21 year old who has been (and still is) bed/housebound for 5 years now with a chronic illness, this book was raw and overwhelming to read but in the best way. I’ve never read a book that I identified SO much with and at times felt as though I could’ve actually written myself (except I’d never be able to summarise my thoughts as eloquently as she has!!)

Poor Little Sick Girls explores Ione’s experiences being diagnosed with and living with Crohn’s disease which is threaded throughout the book in between musings, criticism and opinions on topics like capitalism, social media, feminism, identity politics, self care, creative industries, gross women, the patriarchy and the male gaze, depictions of illness in media and throughout history, medical sexism and racism, class and so much more, and the ways in which many of these issues are interlinked.

While dissecting many of todays issues, being a woman on the internet and life inside a sick body, Ione manages to keep this book accessible, humorous, relatable and extremely engaging. Even the chapter titles themselves are super engaging and make you want to continue reading with headings such as ‘The Tragic and Gorgeous History of the Sick Girl’, ‘A Love Letter to Bed’, ‘Inside All of Us Is a Gross Girl’ and ‘It Costs a Lot to Look This Cheap’.

I can’t recommend this book enough, and want to thank Ione for not only sharing her life and thoughts with us, but for creating a piece of work that so many poor little sick girls will relate to and feel seen in for years to come.

There is so much more I feel I should say about this book and I hope to do a longer review on my blog/instagram when my physical copy arrives but for now I want to leave you with a couple of my favourite quotes from the book which I will be tabbing to high heaven…


“For most people, a few extra hours spent in bed is one of life's little luxuries. Our beds are our havens. They're often the only place in which we can truly block out the rest of the world's problems. Against my will, I've clocked up more hours under my sheets than most people in their twenties and not in a sexy way. For me, my bed is both my biggest comfort and my worst enemy. My life rotates around it: from work, to sleep, to socialising, to eating, and back to sleep again. While a selfie at home may be a rarity for those who spend their weekends out in the world, I ration the amount I allow myself to be seen on social media from my bed, for fear the mere sight of my covers in the corner of the frame will signal an inability to live normally. My bed is one of the small reminders that as much as I can construct myself as a functoning member of society, often Iam not one. While it can be a source of comfort, my place of rest can often feel like a prison. My codependency is not by choice, but because I suffer from chronic fatigue. Living with debilitating tiredness was not what I expected from the prime years of my life- my twenties.”


“From birth, cisgender straight white men have the luxury of watching their own dark emotions parroted on our screens. If they wish to, they can watch themselves murder, kill, manipulate, run organised crime rings, commit fraud and ruin families. Not only that, but we’re also exposed to endless rationalisations as to why men behave in these ways. Women and marginalised people not only do not have the representation they deserve, but the absence of a mirror help up by the world has real implications for our emotions and what we feel we can do with them. We have no framework for where our rage can go, what it can do or the implications of unleashing it.”


“In the case of disability, my body may behave in ways that make me feel hopeless, but through this comes an immense power: the power to confuse a world that only accepts an empowered woman when she acts within the parameters of usefulness to society. Society has no script on how to deal with a fat, chronically ill woman in her twenties who refuses to accept invisibility. Because of that, the potential to write my own narrative is infinite.”

I would struggle to be able to review this book due to issues with the file/download. The issues stopped the flow of the book. The issues are:
- Missing words in the middle of sentences
- Stop/start sentences on different lines
- No clear definition of chapters.

Not sure if it was a file/download issue but there were lots of gaps, stop/starts which really ruined the flow. I would love the chance to read a better version as the description of the book appeals to me.