The State of Me by Nasim Marie Jafry

When I first started reading The State of Me, I wasn’t sure what to expect. It concerned a disability that I had no knowledge about. Would I enjoy it? Would it be a good read? It turned out to be one of the most emotionally charged, incredible novels I will ever read.

The State of Me is the story of Helen Fleet. In 1983, she begins to develop symptoms that no doctor can explain. Some thing it’s food poisoning, some think its stress or fatigue. Helen knows that something is wrong within her but no one believes her. Bedridden, she gets worse and worse, still trying to fight what is wrong with her body.

Eventually, after many months, she is diagnosed with M.E., a disease that she must live with like a strange bedfellow for approximately the next fifteen years. Her illness affects not only Helen but the relationships with her friends, her family, her boyfriend who has been growing more and more distant. Helen feels as if she is losing herself.

And then she decides to fight back and live her life the best way she can.

Instead of being a depressing, tear filled novel, The State of Me is really about self discovery, about the power friendship, the healing powers of love. It is a beautiful story of one woman’s plight to understand herself, to come to terms with what has happened to her and to live her the best way she knows how.

It is a novel of strength and of courage. Nasim Marie Jafry, who has M.E., should be commended for writing such a powerful, moving book about something that is so near and close to her. It opened my eyes and let me see inside of a disability I knew nothing about.

If you read only a handful of books a year, make sure that one of them is this one.