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Hot Cripple: An Incurable Smart-ass Takes on the Health Care System and Lives to Tell the Tale
by
Hogan Gorman (Goodreads Author)
From Prada to poverty-one woman's harrowing and hilarious journey
Ex-model Hogan Gorman was living the typical New York working actor's life-auditions and classes by day, waitressing and fending off handsy customers by night-when a wise (or just crazy) friend convinced her to ask the universe for a change. And she got one-coming at her at forty miles per hour. Hit by a ca...more
Ex-model Hogan Gorman was living the typical New York working actor's life-auditions and classes by day, waitressing and fending off handsy customers by night-when a wise (or just crazy) friend convinced her to ask the universe for a change. And she got one-coming at her at forty miles per hour. Hit by a ca...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
March 6th 2012
by Perigee Trade
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This is a fabulous real life account of how one woman, an ex-model turned aspiring actress and cocktail waitress, has to deal with a devastating and debilitating accident when she is hit by a car while crossing a street and found with no health insurance.
Her story is universal. The writing is witty, with just the right amount of snark, and Hogan's story is heartbreaking and engaging... and all too common here in America. This book raises a lot of questions about our healthcare system, insurance...more
Her story is universal. The writing is witty, with just the right amount of snark, and Hogan's story is heartbreaking and engaging... and all too common here in America. This book raises a lot of questions about our healthcare system, insurance...more
She is funny, tragic, foul mouthed....but justifiably so. There is no denying Hogan Gorman had a horrible experience and survived it with style and strength. Her bias about healthcare policy at the end is less political than poignant. Her odyssey is painful to read but she keeps an edge so you never get sucked down to the depths she must have felt. The title is great. The fashion how-to lists were even better than the 'importance of couture' speech in The Devil Wears Prada.
The 'big reveal' of th...more
The 'big reveal' of th...more
Actress/model living in NYC was hit by a car and badly injured, then has to jump through hoops in the social services and legal systems to get her injuries treated and her expenses covered.
Disclaimer: I feel bad giving her book a bad review because I feel bad for her having had this accident and suffering so much pain and turmoil.
Having said that, it's not a good book. First, the "hot" hook is completely irrelevant. Judging from the book photo, she's indeed an attractive woman, and I take her at...more
Disclaimer: I feel bad giving her book a bad review because I feel bad for her having had this accident and suffering so much pain and turmoil.
Having said that, it's not a good book. First, the "hot" hook is completely irrelevant. Judging from the book photo, she's indeed an attractive woman, and I take her at...more
I read this book several months ago after reading an article about it somewhere - can't quite remember where now. I've always enjoyed reading real life accounts of how people deal with the problems that life throws their way and with Hogan Gorman life really knocked her for a loop (as my Dad would say). For anyone who is doubting why we need health care reform in this country - this book is for you. It's a fast, straight forward, fun read. Sometimes I thought the author must have been embellishi...more
This book surprised me in the end. Most of the book consists of the story of when the author was hit by a car and severely injured while uninsured. She writes with a lot of humor and her story certainly makes the case for a universal health care system like those of Canada and Europe - at least to my mind. But I didn't really warm up to the book until her court case settled and she got the opportunity to travel to India on a spiritual journey. Her insights from that trip and her subsequent refle...more
Oct 08, 2012
Julianna
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
The Chronically Awesome/Chronically Ill or anyone
Recommended to Julianna by:
I saw it in a bookstore
As a chronically ill patient, reading this book had me nodding my head many many times. I saw myself in Hogan, going through the shame and humiliation of becoming "less than" in a society that treats the ill and handicapped as not really ready for prime time.
Nothing prepares us for the big "what if" of chronic illness or injury. Our parents teach us the basics of living, but never the basics of "almost" dying. And why should they?
Hogan writes with a sharp wit about her experience going from on i...more
Nothing prepares us for the big "what if" of chronic illness or injury. Our parents teach us the basics of living, but never the basics of "almost" dying. And why should they?
Hogan writes with a sharp wit about her experience going from on i...more
Engaging, fast, funny & heart-breaking read. I am the furthest thing from a fashion model and could not relate much to the author's career and interests, but her story of getting injured in an accident (not her fault) without having insurance is universal. I'm lucky enough to have health insurance, but I know it is very precarious and I live in fear of a situation like hers happening to me.
Many of the things she writes about readers will know intellectually, but to hear the author's very per...more
Many of the things she writes about readers will know intellectually, but to hear the author's very per...more
Sobering, infuriating and really engrossing, this book tells the story of what happened to Gorman, an actress/waitress without health insurance, after she got hit by a car flying down the street at 40 mph. She tells about her journey into penury and public assistance with relentless cheerfulness and verve. I felt for her, every word of the book. I recognize the knife edge she walked on and I dread the day I might stand in her shoes.
Recommended.
Recommended.
The author annoyed me because she seemed very self centered. I do agree though that what she went through wasn't very fair and that our government and health care system is a bit messed up. I want to know how she ended up having enough money to go to India at the end of the book. It seems like she was borrowing some of "Eat, Pray, Love" during this section. I gave it two stars because if your bored and have nothing else to do its something easy to read.
I picked this up at a conference, and couldn't resist the title (I am also an incurable smart ass). I found the book a fun read (strange to say given the topic), and a useful one as well. I actually passed it on to a relative facing some similar issues (accident, no insurance). Ms. Gorman puts a (beautiful) face on the scary gaps in our country's safety net. Good for her.
Every elected government official should be required to read this book before they are allowed to vote on anything that has to do with health care or welfare reform. It is appalling what an injured person or someone down on their luck has to go through in this country to get help. They should also have to live for a month on the amount of money given out for food stamps. Has anyone been in a grocery store lately or tried to negotiate through a medical emergency and its aftermath without health i...more
I'd call this pretty dead-on ... and funny, too. Hogan's appealingly smart-ass attitude can't hide the horror that happens to her, though I admire her for it. It raises a lot of complicated questions about the way healthcare (and insurance) is handled in this country, along with the age-old theme of the young and their disregard for their own mortality until something threatens it.
Horrifying and funny. It's the story of a young woman whose life was changed in an instant by a speeding car and the fact that she couldn't afford health insurance. Gorman suffered unspeakable indignities at the hands of our broken health system and then found humor in all of it.
I liked it, it took about five minutes to read. From what she says, the authog thinks that it's going to make the rest of us feel better to know that a hot blonde can be grievously injured and be mistreated by the system--don't we all feel better now?
Based on her one-woman show, the true story of the author getting hit by a car going 40 miles an hour, and surviving. But, she didn't have health insurance. Really funny take on a very sad situation. Excellent clip of her show on youtube. Hilarious!
This book is out-of-this-world hilarious and very frank. No sugar-coating the realities of this world; the truth about our health-care system is scary, and Hogan portrays it very effectively. I LOVED THIS BOOK.
I really liked it. When I was reading it I even Tweeted with Hogan to be sure it was a true story. It was so unbelievable i figured it was only loosely based. But it's all true. It is a Memior!
I don't usually read the Acknowledgements much less the Author's Notes but that's exactly what I did. I just couldn't get enough of her "incurable smartass"-ism!! Fantastically written and a giggle on every page!
A darkly funny and easy read. There is a definite change of tone in the last chapters. I thought it would spend more time exploring health care from a consumer's point of view but it was more of a memoir of a difficult time in the author's life.
This memoir was great. It could have been written as a pure sob story, but the author's sassy, smart ass sense of humor makes it extremely entertaining.
i thought this book was great. it was funny and inspiring.. i usually do not read biography type books but im glad i read this one
Never, ever give up health insurance. Ever. Our health care and legal systems are sometimes egregiously unfavorable to victims.
Great book. Infuriating and funny. Started it when I got home from the library, finished it before bed.
A quick and entertaining read that gives you a clear view of all that is fucked up with our healthcare system.
Having a background in the health industry, this book intrigued me. Hogan suffers from a horrific car accident and this is not the "they live happily ever after" kind of novel.
You read her trials and tribulations as she rides through the corrupt healthcare system. She's funny, full of wit and has a good sense of humor despite the ill fortune thrown at her.
It was a nice pace of change kind of book to read!
You read her trials and tribulations as she rides through the corrupt healthcare system. She's funny, full of wit and has a good sense of humor despite the ill fortune thrown at her.
It was a nice pace of change kind of book to read!
May 22, 2013
Melissa Amaral
marked it as to-read
Apr 12, 2013
Lisa
marked it as to-read
Apr 06, 2013
Jill
marked it as to-buy
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Hogan Gorman is an actress and writer living in Manhattan. She received the 2008 FringeNYC Overall Excellence Award for her one-woman stage production of Hot Cripple.
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