Everything Is Tuberculosis is billed as the story of Henry, a young man in Sierra Leone navigating the disease, interwoven with facts and history about tuberculosis. And yeah, I guess that’s what it is.
My issue was with the ratio. I wanted more Henry. More human story, and less encyclopedia. Author John Green clearly has a deep personal connection to this subject, but that didn’t always come through on the page for me.
That said, I listened on audio, and Green’s voice as narrator makes it clear how much he loves Henry and how outraged he is at the needless deaths tuberculosis continues to cause. I’m not sure if would have felt the same passion if I’d just read the words myself so I do think this is one that’s probably better on audio.
I know a lot of people loved this book, so this may just be a me problem. I’d still recommend it to John Green completists, infectious disease enthusiasts, and nonfiction readers looking for a quick primer on a topic they don’t know well.
