At first I grew skeptical of the book, just because it seemed like there were so many "patient" poems, meaning poems that could be read as poems about the patients that Levine sees. But then the book continued, and I realized it is more about traumas inevitable to life (the death of a parent, the maturing of a daughter) seen both objectively and subjectively. At that point I became much more interested. The speaker is deeply aware of herself and her subject.