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The book reading was an eye-opening experience into the nature of tuberculosis in this era. Discussions ranged from the intellectual backdrop of TB in the early 20th century, to the beauty perceptions surrounding the disease, and the colonial residue of British exploitation in Sierra Leone.

Henry, the other protagonist in the non-fiction work, suffers from TB, and while medical help proves futile in the early days, his father resorts to faith healing, claiming that Western medicine is not working.

One interesting discussion that surfaced was a critique of the book as a TB infomercial. The MD present argued that any disease could be framed in the same format, TB notwithstanding. However, it was important to reiterate that TB profoundly informed the cultural and literary landscape of European modernity. Thomas Mann’s Zauberberg (1924) is one example, alongside many other influential figures who suffered from the illness, such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Franz Kafka.

I am specifically interested in the comparative formats of healing adopted in different regions. For example, the “magic mountains” in Switzerland, narrated in Thomas Mann’s Zauberberg, opened discussions surrounding sanatoriums and the exclusionary practices of TB healing. A similar argument is made by historian Christoph Gradmann, who examines the dynamics of TB treatment in Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania) and writes Another Magic Mountain: Kibong’oto Hospital and African Tuberculosis, 1920–2000.

Overall, for a layperson, this book offers an overview of the enduring complexities of TB healing up to and including superbugs, the AIDS pandemic of the 1980s, colonial legacies in Sierra Leone, faith-based healing practices, and John Green’s discussion of USAID’s discontinuation of aid, which has made some treatments unavailable.