Grażyna Zielińska is a writer and poet. She loves travelling. She’s active in her community, with a focus on supporting people with disabilities. Privately she’s a wife, a mother and a grandmother.
The main character of the book is a woman who discovers she’s suffering from Multiple Sclerosis. After hearing the diagnosis she’s initially depressed. But she manages to shake it off. She promises she’d never give up. The book describes her fight against her illness. She’s trying to live a normal life as much as it’s possible. She has two children, she’s working. She achieves great success. She’s happy.
The book makes you think. People are often unhappy. They worry about things that don’t really matter,. For many the problem is that they can’t afford an exotic holiday. Some dream about being beautiful, but don’t do anything to achieve it. The Author tries to make us understand that our life depends on ourselves. If you want to change something, you just need to do it.
She believes that as long as she’s active, she will feel fine and bouts of the MS won’t affect her so much. She works, not wanting to depend on her family’s support. She believes that many MS sufferers don’t want to work as they assume it’s their families’ duty to support them.
She believes in God. She believes that everything that happens in her life has a deeper purpose. She thinks that the illness, which is for her hard to understand, has a purpose that only God knows about. Many people suffering from the MS or cancer feel resentment towards God. Some believe that fervent prayers will lead to a miracle. The Author does not rely on miracles, but remains very religious, she goes to the Mass often and enjoys playing in ;larger groups.
Once, her husband drove her to Mass as she had wanted to pray with others, even though she was very week. She struggled to take the Eucharist. She’s glad that she managed to approach the altar. She found getting home difficult as she was barely walking. Nobody wanted to help her. Passers-by thought she was drunk. Finally her neighbour spotted her and asked some people to give her a lift home. The author believed it was an intervention of her Guardian Angel.
The purpose of this book is to raise the spirits of people with long-term illnesses. It is an interesting story and in my opinion one that will make people think. I recommend it especially for people with chronic illnesses as it is addressed especially to them.
The book does not contain many descriptions of the illness, as the author ties to lead a normal life. She does not focus on her illness, treating it only as a minor detail of her life. “The Bitter Gift” is an interesting book and one worth reading.
Kasia, age18
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