Book Review: “Are You My Guru” by Wendy Shankar

Are You My Guru by Wendy Shankar

I don’t remember how I first came across this book, but it made it onto my reading list and I finally got a copy a few weeks ago. Re-reading the back cover I knew it had to jump to the top of my list and I’m so glad it did.

Wendy Shankar is best known for her book The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life. Wendy shares her story of chronic illness (in her case Wegener’s) and how she went from being this extremely active type A personality, working a million hours a week for a tv studio and doing freelance jobs, to fighting this disease that was tearing her apart. This is her story of how she was forced to learn to accept her new reality. So many times while reading this book, I thought “thank you”, “thank you for sharing the reality of chronic illness, of how we feel about fighting that illness, about how many times we want to just give up, about how willing we are to really try anything”. Her story shares the ups and downs, there’s no happy ending where she suddenly gets better and stays that way for the rest of her life. This is an honest portrayal and really just a story of acceptance.

The book is well written, funny, and honest. I love that she doesn’t try to make everything wine and roses, or give off this idea that there is a perfect answer. The real truth of the book is that we are own Guru. No one knows our body like we do. The drs may be the experts in the disease we are dealing with, but we are the experts of our own bodies, and the best results will come when the experts work together.

I wish I could get to the point of acceptance that Wendy found, and maybe one day I will find it. In the meantime, this book will stay with me and I will read it again and again.