-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Reflections on Illness
by Shahd Alshammari
This lyrical hybrid memoir revisits a lifetime's worth of personal journals to slowly piece together a narrative of chronic illness—a moving account of survival, memory, loss, and hope.
Shahd Alshammari is just eighteen when she is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and told by her neurologist that she would not make it past age thirty. Despite what she is told, by thirty, she has become a professor of literature, and has managed to navigate education systems in both Kuwait and the United Kingdom and inspire generations of students.
Head above Water is the intimate, philosophical memoir of Shahd Alshammari's life of triumph and resistance, as a woman marked "ill" by society and as a lifelong reader, student, and teacher. Charting her journey with raw honesty, Alshammari explores disability, displacement, and belonging—not only of the body, but of culture, gender, and race, and imparts wisdom of profound philosophical value throughout. It is people, human connections, that keep us afloat, she argues—"and in storytelling we have the power to gain a sense of agency over our lives."
"An intimate and layered portrait of disabled womanhood." ―Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Alshammari's memoir reveals the depth of the issues facing other cultures and forces us to consider the difficulty, desirability, or wisdom of imposing our own ideas and solutions on others in their quest for change." ―Wordgathering
"A necessary and beautiful account of life with a sometimes-invisible and unpredictable disability, complicated by both patriarchy and racism, as well as a professor's love letter to the act of teaching and being taught." ―ArabLit
"Shahd Alshammari's Head above Water is a welcome addition to the growing body of illness narratives. She conveys eloquently and candidly the randomness of her multiple sclerosis, communicating what it's like to live in her body―Arab, female, disabled―and how her illness has shaped her education and her life as an academic. Her prose is at once lively and deadly serious, vividly somatic and deeply thoughtful, highly engaging. Her book succeeds at a difficult endeavor: narrating chronic illness without imposing a false narrative arc on that experience." ―G.T. Couser, author of Recovering Bodies: Illness, Disability, and Life Writing
"This is a rich, lyrical, honest account of living with a chronic, painful condition which deals with pain and loss, and yet is a joy to read." ―Catherine Simpson, author of One Body
"Shahd Alshammari's memoir of life with MS is one of the first distinctly 21st century illness narratives. She situates chronic illness at the intersection of issues that include gender, exile, medical experimentation, and the politics of the Middle East." ―Arthur W. Frank, author of At the Will of the Body
This information about Head above Water was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Shahd Alshammari is a Kuwaiti-Palestinian author and academic. She is the author of the books Notes on the Flesh and Head Above Water, as well as numerous other academic publications and papers. Her areas of research include illness narratives, disability studies, and questions of identity and language in the Arab world.
If you liked Head above Water, try these:
Will There Ever Be Another You
by Patricia Lockwood
Published 2026
From the Booker Prize finalist and "formidably gifted writer" (The New York Times), a vertiginous novel about a woman's descent into illness and insanity.
by Garth Greenwell
Published 2025
A medical crisis brings one man close to death―and to love, art, and beauty―in a profound and luminous novel by award-winning author Garth Greenwell.
by Carol Smith
Published 2022
A powerful exploration of grief following the death of the author's son that combines memoir, reportage, and lessons in how to heal.
Idealism increases in direct proportion to one's distance from the problem.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
