Cause for Concern

Carrie Shipers's Cause for Concern traverses a landscape of assorted disasters-such as overwork and layoffs, the ill-fated explorer, circus mishaps, nuclear disaster and radiation-but at its heart is the personal disaster of spousal illness. While a spouse might avow faith in the sentiment of love in sickness and in health, the practice of such faith might come undone when faced with the reality of the ravages of illness on the stricken body of the beloved, alongside the caregiving mate who...