My rating:4 out of 5.
The book is a memorable account of a person who went through many traumatic things in life almost sequentially, passing through the quantum of grief that can sap, confuse and misdirect almost anyone. She gets back on her feet to live life after profound losses in all terms physical, mental, emotional, and financial. Probably she thought she ought to live and deserved to live.
Plot
Initially, as you start reading, it got a little overwhelming for me to just keep experiencing only the negative side of life. She lacked a loving father(who was almost absent) and talks about being brought up in a non-emotional, routine-oriented manner. She was also confused if her mother’s love was really all that it was.
The chapters alternate with her teenaged airplane tragedy and her different phases for life from childhood till then. She takes the reader from her childhood apprehensions of understanding what family meant to her to teenage issues that had blown up. Talking about her father’s arrest, he then coming back and rejoining with the family, mother’s lifeless upbringing and culture that rubbed partially on their childhood, aunt’s cancer demise, college and letting loose with drinking and inappropriate bumps due to immaturity/wrong decisions and the final crash that sucked up her family totally.
I was amazed to see a reference to “ICU psychosis” something that resonated with an experience of my own. It was empathizing to read and understand the experience of her mother’s long hospital stay and overcoming that ‘ambiguous loss’. This one is close to me as life hit me hard when I went that route too.
Conclusion
This book is for you if you are looking for inspiration, wanting to make a change in your life, just intrigued and feel that you are alone in this state of despair. She has done a good job putting it together. I was amazed that she could come this far despite all the hardships life had to offer.
I am obliged that they sent me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.