What do you think?
Rate this book
An Unexpected Twist
Andy Borowitz almost died, but lived to tell this stranger-than-fiction tale. In his first-ever work of autobiography, the comedian and New York Times bestselling author tells how a freakish medical condition descended upon him one October afternoon and led him to the brink of death – in a New York hospital “consistently rated one of the ten best in the country.” What happens when “one of the funniest people in America” (CBS News Sunday Morning) comes face to face with his own mortality? An Unexpected Twist is in equal parts harrowing and hilarious – and a moving affirmation of what it means to be alive.
18 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2012
220 people are currently reading
1259 people want to read
About the author
Andy Borowitz
14 books266 followersAndy Borowitz is an award-winning comedian and New York Times bestselling author. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from Harvard College, where he became President of the Harvard Lampoon. In 2001, he created “The Borowitz Report,” a satirical news column, which has millions of readers around the world. As a storyteller, he hosted “Stories at the Moth” from 1999 to 2009. As a comedian, he has played to sold-out venues around the world, including during his national tour, “Make America Not Embarrassing Again,” from 2018 to 2020. His latest book, Profiles In Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber, was an instant New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and Indiebound bestseller, and was named one of the seven best nonfiction books of fall 2022 by Kirkus Reviews. He is the first-ever winner of the National Press Club’s humor award. He lives with his family in New Hampshire.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 281 reviews
September 26, 2015
What a great short read! The characters were so real, I felt as if I was right there with them. Okay, so while this medical condition is no laughing matter, there where definite laughs here, right along with real scares. Haven't read many short stories, but if they read like this, I may become a fan!
January 1, 2016
This is a single, short personal essay. I have no idea how to rate it as it is, as one reviewer puts it, more of a blog post than a book. As someone who has had to deal with a lot of not so fun medical stuff, I appreciate Borowitz's humor for the most part. Though, there were several tired and lazy moments in the humor department as well.
Here are some excerpts that I particularly enjoyed:
My colon now untwisted — by hand, the artisanal way — I'm given a hospital room, where I recover from the procedure by watching a replay of the Obama-McCain "town hall" debate that took place earlier that night. Maybe it's the morphine talking, but it is the most hilarious TV show I've ever seen.
In addition, the day before the operation, I'm to undergo a proper colonoscopy just in case there's anything else lurking down there — like cancer, for example — that the surgeon needs to know about. In order to clean me out for this procedure, I have to drink a half-gallon of a laxative designed especially for this purpose called GoLytely™. (Presumably, the pharmaceutical company executive who named it thought that it was a good idea, right before a colonoscopy, to evoke memories of Breakfast at Tiffany's.)
Friday. Time for the operation. After a brief, surreal visit from therapy dogs (two Golden retrievers) I am wheeled into the OR.
Here are some excerpts that I particularly enjoyed:
My colon now untwisted — by hand, the artisanal way — I'm given a hospital room, where I recover from the procedure by watching a replay of the Obama-McCain "town hall" debate that took place earlier that night. Maybe it's the morphine talking, but it is the most hilarious TV show I've ever seen.
In addition, the day before the operation, I'm to undergo a proper colonoscopy just in case there's anything else lurking down there — like cancer, for example — that the surgeon needs to know about. In order to clean me out for this procedure, I have to drink a half-gallon of a laxative designed especially for this purpose called GoLytely™. (Presumably, the pharmaceutical company executive who named it thought that it was a good idea, right before a colonoscopy, to evoke memories of Breakfast at Tiffany's.)
Friday. Time for the operation. After a brief, surreal visit from therapy dogs (two Golden retrievers) I am wheeled into the OR.
September 29, 2014
This book can be read in 5 or 10 minutes. Its a 99 cent Kindle e-reader.
Any Borowitz's true story was one I'll 'always' remember. I'm thankful I read it for personal reasons. (and will leave it at that)!
Any Borowitz's true story was one I'll 'always' remember. I'm thankful I read it for personal reasons. (and will leave it at that)!
September 1, 2016
This book totally lived up to the rave reviews I had read of it. It is truly laugh-out-loud funny - I sometimes laugh to myself when I read something but almost never laugh out loud, which this book had me doing on the subway. So I was totally unprepared for the ending, which really choked me up. I had never read anything by Andy Borowitz, but he is an amazing storyteller, and I plan to read more by him. I can't recommend this book more highly.
March 4, 2012
It's true that it's more of a long blog post than a book or even a short story, but the guy really is funny. He did a great job explaining his painful tale in a satirical way. I guess not knowing about who Andy is or what he does, made me like this single.
March 4, 2012
Andy's writing always cheers me up – especially when he's talking about getting cameras shoved up his ass and having his poop diverted into a plastic bag for two months. Twenty minutes of full-blown LOLing.
July 26, 2012
A super short kindle single. Some highlights (with spoilers):
I instantly realize that I'm not dealing with Dr. House here. But he's a nice kid, and it was thoughtful of him to skip Model U.N. to see me. He orders a CAT scan, which I submit to, and for the next couple of hours a parade of other doctors comes into my room to talk to Olivia and me. Disturbingly, each new doctor is higher on the medical hierarchy at the hospital than the last, until I'm pretty sure that the next person who comes in to see me will be Hippocrates, - location 42
She and I met two years before, at a party thrown by a mutual friend. The party had a gimmick: everyone was supposed to bring a book and leave with a book that someone else brought. Olivia brought The Things They Carried; I brought the novelization of Snakes on a Plane. When the party was over, my book was the only one that nobody bothered to take. - location 73
Over the next few weeks, we went to dinner; we played bocce in a bar; we went to the much-hyped Lizards and Snakes exhibit at the Natural History Museum; and we went to a rooftop party in Brooklyn where a bunch of us noticed a woman in a neighboring building doing housework naked. (Since this was Brooklyn, we weren't being creepy voyeurs — we were making an ironic comment about creepy voyeurism.) - location 79
The procedure takes about ten minutes, and it works. My colon now untwisted — by hand, the artisanal way - location 94
My anesthesiologist explains that, in addition to the general anesthesia, I will have an epidural stuck into the base of my spine to block off any feeling in my abdominal region: "This is because there are cases of people who, despite being unconscious for their surgery, still felt the pain of being operated on." "Really? But if they were asleep, how do they know they felt pain?" "Because they experience memories of chronic pain for the rest of their lives." Oh. - location 139
Dr. Wu is a very pleasant Chinese gentleman of few words. He speaks perfect English but he's chosen to speak it in a very abbreviated, clipped fashion, sort of like Confucius on Twitter. Everything is like four characters and he's out. - location 150
At the emergency room we head straight for the Triage Unit. The intake nurse on duty says, "Can you rate your pain from one through ten?" And I'm like, "Ten, motherfucker!" Which turns out to be the correct answer, by the way, for future reference. - location 182
He explains what they've done to me: they've sewn up the leak in my colon and wrapped it up so that it is absolutely airtight. But they don't want to take any chances this time, so they're going to give the colon a few months to heal, and in order to do that, they have diverted my digestive tract "somewhere else." And I'm like, um, what does that mean? Here's what it means: They have taken a part of my small intestine and pulled it outside of my body and it is now emptying into something called an ileostomy, which is a fancy medical name for "plastic bag of shit." That's what's there, right now, hanging from the outside of my belly. Dr. Wu has literally torn me a new asshole and it's in the front, where assholes do not belong. - location 223
I instantly realize that I'm not dealing with Dr. House here. But he's a nice kid, and it was thoughtful of him to skip Model U.N. to see me. He orders a CAT scan, which I submit to, and for the next couple of hours a parade of other doctors comes into my room to talk to Olivia and me. Disturbingly, each new doctor is higher on the medical hierarchy at the hospital than the last, until I'm pretty sure that the next person who comes in to see me will be Hippocrates, - location 42
She and I met two years before, at a party thrown by a mutual friend. The party had a gimmick: everyone was supposed to bring a book and leave with a book that someone else brought. Olivia brought The Things They Carried; I brought the novelization of Snakes on a Plane. When the party was over, my book was the only one that nobody bothered to take. - location 73
Over the next few weeks, we went to dinner; we played bocce in a bar; we went to the much-hyped Lizards and Snakes exhibit at the Natural History Museum; and we went to a rooftop party in Brooklyn where a bunch of us noticed a woman in a neighboring building doing housework naked. (Since this was Brooklyn, we weren't being creepy voyeurs — we were making an ironic comment about creepy voyeurism.) - location 79
The procedure takes about ten minutes, and it works. My colon now untwisted — by hand, the artisanal way - location 94
My anesthesiologist explains that, in addition to the general anesthesia, I will have an epidural stuck into the base of my spine to block off any feeling in my abdominal region: "This is because there are cases of people who, despite being unconscious for their surgery, still felt the pain of being operated on." "Really? But if they were asleep, how do they know they felt pain?" "Because they experience memories of chronic pain for the rest of their lives." Oh. - location 139
Dr. Wu is a very pleasant Chinese gentleman of few words. He speaks perfect English but he's chosen to speak it in a very abbreviated, clipped fashion, sort of like Confucius on Twitter. Everything is like four characters and he's out. - location 150
At the emergency room we head straight for the Triage Unit. The intake nurse on duty says, "Can you rate your pain from one through ten?" And I'm like, "Ten, motherfucker!" Which turns out to be the correct answer, by the way, for future reference. - location 182
He explains what they've done to me: they've sewn up the leak in my colon and wrapped it up so that it is absolutely airtight. But they don't want to take any chances this time, so they're going to give the colon a few months to heal, and in order to do that, they have diverted my digestive tract "somewhere else." And I'm like, um, what does that mean? Here's what it means: They have taken a part of my small intestine and pulled it outside of my body and it is now emptying into something called an ileostomy, which is a fancy medical name for "plastic bag of shit." That's what's there, right now, hanging from the outside of my belly. Dr. Wu has literally torn me a new asshole and it's in the front, where assholes do not belong. - location 223
February 25, 2012
Kindle Singles are short, but this is like a half-single. Its humor is dependent on (1) constant, repetitive, and unnecessary profanity (seriously, could there not have been a warning?) and (2) bad analogies. Many people find those things funny. I don't, and it seems to me to be a lazy route to laughs. In the absence of humor, the single is left with the purposes of telling a journey to the brink of death and the lessens drawn from that experience. Noble purposes, but done better a thousand times elsewhere, and severely undermined by the base humor and language. The one star rating is genuine. I would not recommend this to anyone.
February 21, 2012
This hardly counts as a book. I am totally cheating here. This is a short story and took me about 10 minutes to read. It's basically the author's account of a random and life threatening medical situation he found himself in a few years back. It's kind of like sitting down and listening to a friend or acquaintance recount a story of something really weird that happened to them once.
February 21, 2017
this is only 18 pages so does it even count but andy is really funny and life is precious
January 1, 2013
I heard Borowitz read an shortened version of this story on *This American Life* a few years ago, so I was happy to see it was available for me to borrow from Amazon. The story is just as hilarious as his segment (segment!) from *This American Life*, although I could have sworn his radio segment included the tale of his attempts to understand--and pay--his hospital bill. Perhaps I'm confusing that bit with another hospital bill horror story from *This American Life*. 'cuz, let's face it, you're not living the American life unless you've had a hospital bill horror story of your own.
March 13, 2012
This is excellent. The only reason I didnt give it 4 stars was b/c I had previously heard him telling this story and so a lot of the surprise and general progress of the story was not as fresh as it would be on a first reading. Sweet, funny, and intermittently gross. A great example of what the Kindle single format can do.
July 24, 2012
This is the best story about someone's colon surgeries I've ever read. But that's not really saying much. Perhaps it had something to do with my mindset at the time, but I didn't particularly enjoy this. At least it was short.
November 28, 2015
So short!
This is not a book! It's a friggin magazine article! I loved every word & laughed out loud but now it's over! I'm so pissed. I'm on a plane and I brought no other entertainment. Guess I'll have to read it again.
This is not a book! It's a friggin magazine article! I loved every word & laughed out loud but now it's over! I'm so pissed. I'm on a plane and I brought no other entertainment. Guess I'll have to read it again.
March 25, 2016
Is it really a book though? Felt more like an essay. Either way I enjoyed it. It's funny and sharp. The ending was a bit flat but a good way to spend the minutes between 7:24 and 7:36 am on a Friday morning.
February 21, 2012
This is the first of his I've read and it was hysterical!
February 26, 2017
Hilarious
February 23, 2012
Very enjoyable short story.
I know now what I least want to have after a medical procedure.
I see the humor from the Borowitz report, would love to see more longer pieces from Andy Borowitz.
I know now what I least want to have after a medical procedure.
I see the humor from the Borowitz report, would love to see more longer pieces from Andy Borowitz.
February 23, 2012
Like one of my trip stories but with a twist. Funny man even in the face of adversity
March 5, 2012
I laughed so hard I cried. Plus it only takes twenty minutes to read - tops.
May 10, 2012
A somewhat humorous story Andy's serious medical emergency.
February 25, 2015
A pithy book with a little life lesson reminder. I admire Mr. Borowitz for infusing humor into a near-death experience.
July 3, 2016
Interesting and engaging short story with good elements of humour.
November 30, 2016
An Unexpected Twist
I'm not a really big fan of Andy Borowitz but this wasn't a bad story. The name definitely fit this short for sure. lol
I'm not a really big fan of Andy Borowitz but this wasn't a bad story. The name definitely fit this short for sure. lol
February 15, 2017
قصة قصيرة تحكي لحظات شخص يتم تشخيصه بأن لديه إلتواء في القولون. برغم اللحظات الحرجة والمصيرية في القصة إلا أنها لا تخلوا من التعليقات واللحظات المضحكة.
March 15, 2018
An Unexpected Twist was a really quick novella - which I honestly didn't even really know until it was already over with. It's about a Andy dealing with a medical condition which is a pretty serious one. Throughout the book he has to go into so many doctor appointments and surgeries. He also deals with a lot of repercussions from the surgeries.. well, until the last one that completely fixes all of the damage done.
Overall, it was fascinating to read about what Andy and Olivia went through. It was a great short story that deals with some funny parts but mostly serious parts. Oh, and it has a really happy and sweet ending. I loved it. I can't wait to read more from Andy!
Overall, it was fascinating to read about what Andy and Olivia went through. It was a great short story that deals with some funny parts but mostly serious parts. Oh, and it has a really happy and sweet ending. I loved it. I can't wait to read more from Andy!
August 8, 2021
3.5 stars
February 11, 2018
Touching & Funny
This is a very short story of someone who had a medical emergency. The author writes with a good sense of humor and it's easy to empathize with him and root for him.
This is a very short story of someone who had a medical emergency. The author writes with a good sense of humor and it's easy to empathize with him and root for him.
August 6, 2012
This was a short retelling of a very serious health issue-that struck out of the blue for the writer- that probably deserves a book. I don't know Borowitz writing, just funny fb remarks, until this piece, but I do know what intestinal cancers, surgeries and a long ten year struggle with multiple episodes of peritonitis is like. I know what it's like not to be "allowed" to talk about it all, by the perception you are somehow whining or at least trying to explain some of that to people that wish you'd shut up or that have no time for it, this stance I know.( As if telling any of it was somehow looking for someone to care or give empathy you don't deserve. I don't see him affected as I was except maybe that this is so short....when I'm sure it deserves a book...that he realized he could only have a very short moment to be serious about this) I know how being mocked over being ill and vulnerable is.
Anyway it was a good read because three times I've been told I was going to be put through a temporary colostomy and in all three cases my husband refused the surgery-this put me at great risk but he wasn't going to have THAT in HIS life. This really made me think about those experiences and took me to a several day silence. I did survive cancers, so far, but what I went through was very tough. Borowitz had no cancer, but a sudden awareness of what a very dangerous thing peritonitis and the intestine are, and from that reflects on what an amazing gift life is. He has learned a great and amazing lesson about what we waste time doing rather than living loving one another. He got right to the one thing I've learned.
I can barely rerun those 6 or 7 times I had peritonitis without wondering how I'm still here-or recalling the most intense pain I think you can have. And how I buried all of that, which no one allows me to really share without giving me advise-and they don't know what they are speaking about-, that's tough. A part of me is rejected completely in this world that refuses compassion for the sick or an understanding of shared humanity. That eventually it hits us all-deny all you like. Or that turns in the face of your bravely sharing this vulnerability, to say "you take yourself too seriously." Ok.
It was interesting to read a far more loving experience,because he is supported and loved and doesn't speak of what defined my experiences-the being alone.Makes it a far more joyful read. He took stock in a very positive way.
This is basically a retelling of a twisted colon, complications from surgery in one of the best hospitals around for a guy that got pretty good care and had his life go ok finally. For me, because my issues lasted 15 years, involved incredible pain and are ongoing, in crappy hospitals, it's a bit like knowing someone out there has a tiny bit of insight but really has no idea what it can be like. It made me tear up for a second. He's a quick read and a good writer.
Maybe this is the story to recommend to the person that took you at your most vulnerable-coming out of things like this, and took advantage and made a joke out of "being smitten" with you.Maybe this is for that guy.
But, maybe, nothing gets through to those folks.
Anyway it was a good read because three times I've been told I was going to be put through a temporary colostomy and in all three cases my husband refused the surgery-this put me at great risk but he wasn't going to have THAT in HIS life. This really made me think about those experiences and took me to a several day silence. I did survive cancers, so far, but what I went through was very tough. Borowitz had no cancer, but a sudden awareness of what a very dangerous thing peritonitis and the intestine are, and from that reflects on what an amazing gift life is. He has learned a great and amazing lesson about what we waste time doing rather than living loving one another. He got right to the one thing I've learned.
I can barely rerun those 6 or 7 times I had peritonitis without wondering how I'm still here-or recalling the most intense pain I think you can have. And how I buried all of that, which no one allows me to really share without giving me advise-and they don't know what they are speaking about-, that's tough. A part of me is rejected completely in this world that refuses compassion for the sick or an understanding of shared humanity. That eventually it hits us all-deny all you like. Or that turns in the face of your bravely sharing this vulnerability, to say "you take yourself too seriously." Ok.
It was interesting to read a far more loving experience,because he is supported and loved and doesn't speak of what defined my experiences-the being alone.Makes it a far more joyful read. He took stock in a very positive way.
This is basically a retelling of a twisted colon, complications from surgery in one of the best hospitals around for a guy that got pretty good care and had his life go ok finally. For me, because my issues lasted 15 years, involved incredible pain and are ongoing, in crappy hospitals, it's a bit like knowing someone out there has a tiny bit of insight but really has no idea what it can be like. It made me tear up for a second. He's a quick read and a good writer.
Maybe this is the story to recommend to the person that took you at your most vulnerable-coming out of things like this, and took advantage and made a joke out of "being smitten" with you.Maybe this is for that guy.
But, maybe, nothing gets through to those folks.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 281 reviews