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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Nationalism’s victims: Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

28/6/2023

8 Comments

 
Twelve-year-old Bird doesn’t know why his mother disappeared three years ago. He doesn’t know why he and his father had to move from their large house to a tiny flat at the university, nor why his father lost his prestigious academic job. It can’t have anything to do with PACT, can it? The Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act was introduced to rescue the USA from the economic and social crisis around the time that he was born.
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As we, and he, discover eventually, America’s apparent stability has come at a dreadful cost. With China blamed for the previous disorder, Chinese Americans, and anyone who might be mistaken for Chinese, have long been under attack. Children have been forcefully separated from parents deemed insufficiently patriotic and several books, including his mother’s debut poetry collection, banned.
 
I found the premise depressingly credible: the scapegoating; the complacency of those not directly affected; the suppression of opposing points of view. However, I’d have welcomed more subtlety in Bird’s early disillusionment as he learns part of the truth from the more worldly Sadie. But I gradually began to care for the characters caught up in this nightmare and to admire their attempts to put things right.
 
American readers will no doubt find echoes of the forced assimilations of Indigenous children, the underground railroad and the antagonism towards Chinese citizens during the Covid pandemic. British readers might be reminded of how criticism of Brexit was cast as disloyalty and how the policy of creating a hostile environment for migrants led to some Caribbean-born citizens illegally losing their benefits and threatened with deportation (which features in my novel Lyrics for the Loved Ones).

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One aspect of this kind of discrimination is that, all too often, the victims don’t dare complain due to the stigma or for fear of making a bad situation worse. Thus, the extent of the injustice is unacknowledged, and victims lose a potential source of support. This was the case with the Windrush Scandal, until an investigative journalist stumbled upon the case, as outlined in The Windrush Betrayal.
 
In her recent post with this week’s flash fiction challenge, Charli Mills suggests official complaints are increasingly discouraged. I’m not sure I agree. My impression is that complaints departments are relatively easy to access nowadays; the block is in getting a satisfactory result. Apologies are ten a penny, but worthless if practice doesn’t change.

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As I’m currently awaiting the result of my complaint to the NHS ombudsman about my GP’s inadequate response to my complaint about his tardiness in assessing what turned out to be kidney disease, I’ve indulged myself with a BOT. It’s not as clear as I’d like it to be: the complexities are hard to squeeze into ninety-nine words.
Delayed diagnosis
 
She was lucky to get an appointment; a diagnostic blood test was sheer greed. “It’s not an emergency. Come back in a couple of weeks.”
 
Past midnight in the hospital, they frowned at her results. The damage was so obvious, even her addled brain could understand.
 
Between the scans, biopsies, injections and transfusions, she rattled the keyboard of her laptop, setting out her case. Unless she flagged her GP’s complacency, he might make the same mistake again.
 
Convalescing, mourning her lost identity as healthy, a letter from the GP. What would he now do differently? Nothing. Nothing at all.
 

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
8 Comments
D. Avery link
3/7/2023 06:33:11 pm

Your "flash" shows just how important it is to pay attention and self-advocate these days. Doctors and hospitals don't seem to be what they used to be. Take a friend and take notes!
I have read a couple of Ng's novels and really enjoyed them. This one I have not read (yet) but I think Charli did with her students. It seems frighteningly plausible.
You'll never guess what I read earlier whilst traveling the country... Underneath, by Anne Goodwin. Wasn't keen on the situation, per the blurbs, figured I didn't need to read about a narcissist who locks somebody up, but I finally did and it was an engaging story, the author pulled it off and surprised me with a twist or two.
Okay, the travels continue.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
4/7/2023 12:27:28 pm

Sadly, the NHS is in a dreadful state at the moment due to 13 years of right-wing government underinvestment. Hard to self-advocate when you're unwell and I think I'd be dead if my husband hadn't come with me to the GP. No shortage of caring attention once I got to the hospital.

Yes, frighteningly plausible, although I didn't think this was as well written as her first novel – it seemed as if it was aimed at readers who'd never given these issues a thought.

Now I've heard about that novel, Underneath. It's a tricky one as some people who might enjoy the psychology put off by the gruesome situation whereas for some who like twisty-turny thrillers it's almost too tame.

Enjoy your travels and happy Independence Day.

Reply
Susan Budig link
10/7/2023 06:19:32 pm

I appreciate your concise and relatable piece at Carrot Ranch. It stood out to me.

I imagine the staff that work in the complaint department receive a lot of poorly written, difficult to read/comprehend letters. The silver lining of your dire complaint would be its ease in reading.

There's nothing like reading a well-penned piece of prose.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
11/7/2023 07:08:17 am

Thanks, Susan, that's an interesting perspective. In retrospect, my letter wasn't as clear as I would have liked as I didn't, at that time, have the correct medical terms for my symptoms. But my GP's reply was shockingly inarticulate and illogical. Another gap in his training!

Reply
Norah Colvin
11/7/2023 12:28:30 pm

I'm sorry for the status of your health which could have been much better had your GP been more responsive to your needs. Sadly, the situation seems to be similar all over. My brother in law (in NI) had a condition (that was obvious in results) ignored until long after treatment would have been an early response. We have so many complaints about hospitals here at the moment, it's no joke. That doesn't make it any easier for you, but I hope your letter of complaints means it won't happen again.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
15/7/2023 03:48:18 pm

Thanks, Norah, and sorry about your brother-in-law.

Unfortunately, my complaint isn't going to change anything and it's gone as far as it can. I've learnt that you can't trust doctors' case records – although they carry more weight than the patient's testimony in a dispute – and that they can only be held accountable for following guidelines, not for applying common sense. Maybe I expected too much but I might have minded less if my GP had actually listened to me more and had a more collaborative approach. Nobody is perfect and things will always be missed but it still rankles that my concerns weren't taken seriously enough.

However, in the end, I guess I was lucky it wasn't a lot worse and am now being regularly monitored by a nephrologist. It seems a delayed diagnosis is the norm in kidney disease, even though it's so common.

Reply
Norah Colvin
20/7/2023 12:58:55 pm

Yes, it must be so frustrating for you, Anne. It is your health after all, not your GP's. I sure he wouldn't have taken his health lightly.
I wish you well.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
20/7/2023 02:47:08 pm

Thanks

Reply

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