Love and Fatigue in America, by Roger King
Roger King was an English professor, who, filled with a bit of hubris, accepted a prestigious appointment in the US, and got ready to start what he thought would be his new sex and romance-filled, ego-stoking adventure.
To his shock, his health crashed, and no one could explain what the hell had happened to him. He'd developed chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME.
Love and Fatigue in America is his fictionalized account of his experience.
Instead of teaching college students, the nameless narrator ends up wandering state to state, and woman to woman, sleeping on strangers' couches, the only constant in his life, his dog.
His insights into masculinity, sexuality, and the American healthcare system, in the face of the mysteries and incapacities of ME, are startling.
His poetic, satiric epilogue, "The Benefits of Illness," should be made into a poster and widely wheat-pasted at every doctor's office!
Narrated by Graeme Malcolm, a fantastic narrator who's read everything from Cat Sense: How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet to The Tale of Despereaux.
--Susie Bright
