In this book, the author creatively recounts his battles with migraines, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. West, the author of 15 novels and nine works of nonfiction notes: "Prey to miscellaneous degenerations, I want them to be an opera, say, or a fathomable tableau." West circles around his maladies and comes up with tart observations on medicine, doctors, hospitals, and living wills. He restores a sense of mystery to disease and revels in the new self-discoveries it brings to him. As a guide into the catastrophic country of illness, West is sensitive, courageous, and clever.