To Feel Stuff [Paperback]

Meet Elodie Harrington, college student and medical anomaly. From chicken pox to tuberculosis, Elodie suffers such a frequent barrage of illnesses that she moves into the Brown University infirmary. When charismatic Chess Hunter enters the infirmary with two smashed knees, he and Elodie begin an intense affair, but Chess is only a visitor to Elodie's perpetual state of medical siege. As he heals, he moves back to his former life. Elodie heads in the other direction and begins to see a ghost. When Professor Mark Kirschling, M.D., gets wind of Elodie, he's convinced he can make his professional mark by cracking her case but he's entirely unprepared for what he's about to encounter.

Andrea Seigel has found a wry, ingenious way to explore the contrast between the first frisson of mortality and a life lived in defiance of it.

To Feel Stuff is the story of Elodie Harrington, medical anomaly. Elodie is a sufferer of mysterious and frequent illnesses- so frequent, in fact, that her poor health forces her to live in the Brown University infirmary.

In the winter of her junior year, while recovering from a bout of tuberculosis, two major events occur in Elodie's isolated life. First, big-man-on-campus Chess Hunter enters the infirmary after having his knees bashed in during an a cappella performance, and Elodie begins an intense romance with him. Secondly, she begins to see a ghost.

Believing that her barrage of illnesses has produced a supernatural change in her- specifically an ability to see the dead- Elodie turns to Dr. Kirschling to help her prove the phenomenon.

Kirschling, a Brown medical school professor and practicing doctor, sees potential in Elodie. Convinced he'll be a hero within his profession if he can crack the cause behind her bizarre afflictions, Kirschling makes a deal with his patient. If she'll give him access to her life and let him write an article about her, then he'll keep the University from lӈ