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Poor Little Sick Girls

A Love Letter to Unacceptable Women

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Poor Little Sick Girls

By: Ione Gamble
Narrated by: Ione Gamble
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About this listen

 'Incredible insight with a transgressive, witty, spirit.' COURTNEY LOVE
'The most sensational read of 2022!' GEMMA COLLINS
'A breath of fresh air... I want so many people to read this!' TRAVIS ALABANZA
'Visionary' VIV ALBERTINE
A STYLIST MUST-READ FOR 2022

Wellness is oppressive, self love is a trap, hustling is a health risk and it's all the patriarchy's fault.

Ione Gamble never imagined that entering adulthood would mean being diagnosed with an incurable illness. Watching identity politics become social media fodder from the confines of her sickbed Ione began to pick apart our obsession with self-care, personal branding, productivity and #LivingYourBestLife.

Using her experience with disability to cast a fresh gaze on the particularly peculiar cultural moment in which young women find themselves, Poor Little Sick Girls explores the pressures faced - as well as the power of existing as an unacceptable woman in our current era of empowerment.


Founder of Polyester zine and a host of The Polyester Podcast, Ione has been named one of fifteen coolest young Londoners by The Evening Standard, and a 2019 New Debutante in Tatler Magazine. If you loveTrick Mirror, Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Hood Feminism, you don't want to miss this book.©2022 Ione Gamble (P)2022 Hachette Audio UK Gender Studies Social Sciences Health Mental Health

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All stars
Most relevant  
Beautifully written and read. I liked the style that is direct and frank. It really helped me put words on my own illness even though I don’t have Crown’s. Thank you so much Ione!

Very useful for women with chronic illness

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Loved it! Well worth listening to, it was very insightful. Can’t wait for her next book.

Such a brilliant book!

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Thoroughly enjoyed this read and was pleasantly surprised at how educational it was, whilst still being personal. Ione perfects the balance between giving you a glimpse into her life and explaining the factors that shape that life in the greater context of feminist history.

Nat

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A ground breaking book, bringing together seamlessly, complex subjects that are so relative to our times. I’m sure this will be read for many years to come as a measure of where feminism sits in 2022.

Incredible book

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Poor Little Sick Girls is insightful and educational but never boring. The life of a chronically ill working class creative is told through the lens of the internet and modern feminism with a playful tone and unique references. This book will make you think & laugh

Loved it - funny, clever and cool

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While this book has honest insights into life as a chronically ill woman navigating the world of journalism and more, it provides plenty a meaningful critique of society’s treatment of chronic illness but offers little practical suggestion on how she would instead like society to respond. As someone who wants to make sure the chronically ill people around them feel equal, comfortable and taken seriously I was listening intently, looking for the best ways to show understanding about something that causes people chronic pain without being patronising, yet I didn’t feel much more informed on how to do so.

Outside of the topic of chronic illness, there were also a lot of interesting theories being made regarding media and film etc by Ione which I would have loved to have heard more particular examples of. As someone who isn’t what you’d call an ‘intellectual’ - lol, I found it quite difficult to wrap my head around a lot of the statements made when there were not many practical examples to illustrate them with.

Overall I really admire Ione and her work, she is inspirational in what she has achieved. I think what she’s done with Polyester is amazing and that she’s talking about her experiences in this book is incredibly important.

Some more examples for the dumb girls plsssss

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