5 comments about My Name is Caroline.

1. This woman's life paralleled mine in so many ways--Harvard undergrad, young to marry, overachiever, and now bulimic. Caroline offers a path to recovery that I personally think is the only truly effective way: enlisting the help of God. This book is written in such a way that it won't trigger eating disorder behaviors, which many of the books on the subject do. I highly recommend this book to people who are in a dark place right now looking for hope and an answer to their prayers.



2. Trying to find books dealing with bulimia is tough. Atleast books that are up to date. My Name Is Caroline is a wonderful book for anyone who is/was bulimic. She never tried to hide any of her feelings in this book. You understand and sympathize with her. She is the typical/textbook bulimic. Upper-middle class, perfectionist, controlling parents... She shows you that there is hope and that you don't have to live your life like this.



3. Ms. Miller gives us an honest and humble account of her struggle with bulimia. Not just for bulimics, this book offers insight into emotional attachments one may have to eating and food. It is truly an interesting and easy to read story. Keep this one on hand to reread when you need encouragement or have lost sight of your ultimate goal of staying healthy and happy.



4. What an amazing book, I read it last summer and its contents are still with me.Caroline is amazingly honest and open about her experiences, a recommendation for anyone, particularly those who struggle to understand eating disorders.



5. This was an interesting and revealing account of one woman's struggle with, and recovery from bulimia. The book is repetitive by its nature -- she describes her compulsive binging and purging from the time she was a young teenager to a young woman. However, while autobiographical, many of the stories/anecdotes she included were unnecessary or irrelevant, weighing the reader down with the feeling of, "Haven't I read this before?" or "Who cares?" All in all, though, this is an insightful book about the nature and pain of addiction, and one that gives much-needed inspiration and hope about the possibility of recovery.

5 comments about Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter.

1. I watched the "Door to Door" movie and ran to buy this book, anxious to read more about this remarkable man.
   
   Ha! I was disillusioned very quickly, when I realized that not only is the book very poorly written (it feels like nobody even bothered to edit it before sending it to print), but it features the life of Ms. Brady. At times, it seems that all she had in mind was how to get more of the limelight, and if Mr. Porter was feeling unwell, well - she'll just go on her own, and get the spotlight to herself. All that while whining how tough it was for her to have it all.
   
   Is this book yet another way to get attention on account of Bill Porter?



2. This book arrived quickly. I ordered others the same day from another company and I am still waiting for them.
   Book was new as stated in description.
   The story of Bill Porter is a Great One! It shows if you are Patient and Persistant you can accomplish whatever you want.



3. I laughed and I cried. I first heard of this book because it was on the New York Times Bestseller list. Also I watched clips of the movie "Door to Door" when my kids checked the video out from the library. I've become fascinated with Bill who has physical limitations and knew no limit. Despite physical challenges, he is such an inspiration to all of us who take daily tasks for granted, like putting on a tying our shoes, putting on a tie, or simply typing. Bill could only type one finger at a time. His assistant, Shelly Brady weaves her personal connection with Bill throughout. The book is a welcome addition to all middle school and high school libraries.



4. This is in my top three inspirational books. The real-life work ethic and example of Bill Porter (as told by his assistant Shelly Brady) is TRUE inspiration. The old saying "you can't keep a good man down" rings true here. I picked up this little book at Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport a few years back when my flight was delayed. I read it in the terminal and finished it on the plane. THIS BOOK IS WORTH MORE THAN ALL OF THE STEPHEN COVEYS, DALE CARNEGIES and JOEL BARKERS combined (these guys wrote "Snake Oil for the Soul"). Should you need inspiration FIND IT HERE! Bill Porter is the real deal...not a thinker, but a doer. Thank you Shelley for sharing your and Bill's story.



5. A few things I learned from Bill Porter are the power of persistence and that there really are no obstacles. Actually, Porter seems to take persistence to the extreme, and as for obstacles, it is not that they do not exist, but that for Porter, they have never been allowed to become the reasons for his failure. In fact, he refuses to let his cerebral palsy define who he is. Rather he insists on being defined for what he has contributed - the service he has given to others through his career as a salesman.
   
   I had to reconsider that too. What is a salesman? A bothersome person who is intruding on your personal space to convince you to buy something that you didn't really want? Or can a salesman be a person who really does add value to your life by looking after your interests as a consumer and making sure you get the best deal. Well, I think everyone knows both kinds. And because of the former, most people have made the latter's ability to penetrate our defenses all the more challenging.
   
   The last thing I ever wanted to be was a salesperson. But I am learning now how much this attitude has crippled me in my own profession, which happens to be education. The fact is that the ability to approach others and expand your personal network of friends and associates is critical to bringing your unique contributions to others, and even more importantly, partnering with others so that they may offer their contributions in return. When you consider it on a grander scale, where would the world be without those luminaries in history who had to intrude upon the mental space of others and sell revolutionary ideas to the people, especially when they did not want to hear? From God's Prophets to sages and scientists, it always took courage and persistence to come out of one's own secure personal space and carry a message to people who are usually not open at first to receiving it. I do not mean to stretch the purpose of the book too far, but this is what it meant to me, as an educator seeking to improve myself in the realm of networking so that I can bring my services to more people.
   
   Shelly Brady taught me something too: the importance of friendship. While a cynical voice did nag me from time to time while reading this book, I reflected on how people with different strengths can form partnerships that allow both to go much farther than they ever could have gone alone. Without Brady, Porter would be no less courageous and inspiring, but he certainly did not have the vision Brady had to bring his story to so many other people through public speaking, books, and film. And what I think really comes through more so than any notion of self-interest is Brady's true love and concern for Porter, and her desire to share his profound impact on her life with others. Perhaps most importantly, her attitude toward Porter is characterized by awe rather than pity. Contrast that with how most of us would meet a Bill Porter and automatically assume our advantages while secretly allowing some fear or challenging circumstance to hold us back. Brady demonstrates here, that she admires Porter for never feeding his excuses for failure, and that she has drawn on his inspiration to overcome her own.
   
   A telling example is how she contrasts her memories of childhood with his. His memories were not of growing up with cerebral palsy, but rather of sunbaths, his loving mother, and other simple joys. Too many of us have buried our memories of childhood joys under Freudian self-analytical blame of our parents or other happenstance. What we learn from Bill Porter is that it matters far less why these obstacles are there than how they can be surmounted.
   
   I did not read this book in a single afternoon, although it certainly could be read that way. I took in its inspirational lessons in short spurts and experienced a small portion at a time. It is light reading, but worth the investment of enough time to allow "Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter" to sink in.

5 comments about No One's Perfect.

1. No One's Perfect a book about Hirotada Ototake the man with no arms or legs. It takes place in Japan where Oto grows up and deals with the trials and tribulations of life. As kid without a disability most people don't see the reality of the hardships for the disabled or elderly. In this book you follow a young man as he grows up and faces these trials. The book shows us that everyone can do something if we just give it a try.
   Imagine what it is like to be two or three feet tall in elementary school with stubs for arms and legs and having your teacher tell you, you are going to learn how to swim. To use at first we think no problem but that's because we don't think of the disability, and for him it was hard. But through it all he still tried his hardest and never gave up. Through out the book he faces many obstacles like this, and he faces them and never gave up.
   The story teaches us more then to never give up. It also shows that we all have potential for something, and if we all work together we can reach it. It also shows that the reason people are called disabled is because the way things in society are set up. If people would just take 5 extra minutes to think of ways to set things up to help disabled people they wouldn't be disabled. This many-themed book deals with lots of issues that need to be addressed.
   This book is written in an excellent way that captures the hearts of readers of all ages. The language is simple enough for younger people, but complete complex and complete enough to keep adults' attention as well. This all works because he writes in a way that every one can understand and relate to. He does this by putting things in the view of a younger person relay. As you read it you don't think hey some adult wrote this you think that it is written by some one your own age no matter how old you are. Along with being able to get through to younger generations he is able to reach out and touch the lives of adults at the same time.
   One thing that didn't work, however, was the way he sometimes jumped around in time. This does not work because he doesn't give enough detail to figure out at what time every thing is happening. But also at the same time he never seems to lose the attention of the reader, through laughter and what he is trying to get through peoples heads.
   This book is wonderful for all ages and types of readers. It's full of humor, sadness, pride, hope, love and the want to make your own life better. Along with all the emotions you get to feel, you also get the chance to see some of the issues that some people face every day. Reading this book you begin to realize that life isn't as bad as you had thought it was. After all if this great person could make the best of his life and be happy with out arms, legs or the opportunities of normal people then I think that you can make your own life better. I recommend this book to any one who has a caring heart of the thirst for a wonderful and emotional experience. I also challenge you all to try and do some thing that will help you reach your potential or help make life a little easier for some one you know that cant always do for them selves. Thank you.



2. A Spiritual Lift

   This is an autobiography of a great soul.

   The author Oto (Hirotada Ototake) was born without arms and legs( a disease called tetra-amelia). Thanks to his great parents who didn't grieve over his disability, Oto was brought up in a way no different from the able-bodied kids(I bet you are interested in knowing how).In addition, through his experience of being often denied the school opportunities under an explanation that the school didn't have full facilities for wheelchair users, he developed his unique viewpoint - able-bodied people cannot cater to social welfare for the disabled from a more thoughtful perspective than the disabled people themselves. Motivated by this idea, he became actively involved in a campaign for a "barrier-free"society( namely, to make public facilities accessible to those in a wheelchair) as an undergraduate at Japan's prestigious Waseda University.

   Enormously amazed by the reassuring tone of Oto, I sailored into a chain of touching stories. A particularly contagious one,to me,was about fashion shopping. Oto is a fashion lover and wouldn't miss any chance to shop on sale at a favorite store.On Jan 15,1998, he took the risk of travelling in a blizzard for a sale starting that day. His rationale was,"I wish that people with disabilities would take more pleasure in the way we dress,both to change society's image of us,and to give a lift to our own lives." Oto,thank you,I did get a lift here.

   Ten pictures of Oto can be found in this book.In most of them,Oto smiles so shiningly,which seems to be proving his words" Even with a disability, I am enjoying every single day. No one's perfect."

   Another person I must mention is the translator Gerry Harcourt, winner of the 1990 Wheatland Translation Prize. Without his efforts,I couldn't have had so much enjoyment in this book.




3. One of the main points of the book is that it really shouldn't matter whether or not someone is disabled. That said, being disabled gave Hirotada Ototake many challenges and opportunities which are uncommon. You can imagine the challenges, but what really struck me was how the author took advantage of his opportunities, working hard to get into excellent schools and taking on leadership roles throughout his life... and he's only 4 years older than I am! It seems like an awful lot to accomplish in such a short time.

   The best part of this book, however, is not the story or the accomplishments, but the attitude. It's very difficult to read this book without being inspired. When I was younger, I read "Anne of Green Gables" whenever I wanted to remind myself that hard work and dedication can make all sorts of things possible. "No One's Perfect" has the same message and the same kind of inspiration.

   The only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 was that, like some other reviewers, I was hoping for more emotional insight. In some ways, the story is a little too abstract, and I'd like to know how the author FELT, since I know that most of the time, my situation cannot be completely expressed in logical thoughts alone.

   Great book!




4. I was curious as to what was going on in the mind of this person. Unfortunately, you don't get into the underlying PERSONAL feelings, emotions and thoughts of the main character/author. The title really caught my eye (No One's Perfect) and I thought it would explore more facets of human imperfection. While you initially feel sorry for Oto just from seeing the photo on the cover of the book...by the end, you come to visualize him as a real and regular person. I found the book to be a more of a scrap together simplistic journal of his life so far. I suppose I have never discriminated against the disabled as it's obvious they've lacked something through life. Each individual finds their own way and it's clear that Oto points out how we must value ourselves more & enjoy every single day no matter what. This book is ideal for a little inspiration for any one (at any age) because it is easy to read & helps one examine 'What one should do to make a difference in improving their life'.



5. As a Chinese, I can't read the Japanese version, so I can't rate the writing technique of this book. But, base on the Taiwan vesion, I think that the book tell me "a lucky person need many persons to help and support". From the book, I find that, every person will have their limitation, base on the different limitation, we could pick our positive life style and just for these different limitation, we should help others.

5 comments about Saving Milly: Love, Politics, and Parkinson's Disease (Ballantine Reader's Circle).

1. Excellent book, well written. Anyone who has, or is spouse or friend of
   someone with Parkinson's should read this book. It will make you cry and then make you mad, really mad. The U.S. Government should read it and see
   how poorly funds are distributed for aid and research. It's a shame.



2. Paperback includes both a reading guide and a compelling interview with Kondracke by his comrade, Fred Barnes. In particular, it is interesting to learn about what Kondracke wishes he had done a bit differently in telling the story. In a sense, Kondracke stands outside the story to evaluate how faithfully he told it, an extraordinary exercise.
   
   Maybe this book is less about Milly and more about "saving Milly" and what that meant: pragmatically, socially, politically, spiritually. It's a useful distinction to bear in mind. There is some background information about this brave and lovely woman, but inasmuch as the topic is an encounter with a disease she has, this is not a biography of Milly. It is a picture of sickness and its impact: not of the woman, herself.
   
   There are plenty of books about people with illness: fewer, by far, about the very flawed, though devoted, individuals who care for them. Kondracke seems no longer to flinch at the shadows of his inadequacy and pomposity, which might encourage the reader to consider a similarly brave examination of conscience. Many of us will be called to be caregivers. This is no map, but it is a clear narrative of costs, rewards, pain, and delight that bubble up in the dynamic between cared-for and caregiver.
   
   I liked the book a lot and absolutely recommend the paperback edition because of its additions.



3. I had known Milly Kondracke for a quarter of a century before her death last year of Parkinson's disease. She was my mentor. Morton's memoir of their marriage is touching, well-written and a quick read.
   
   My only regret is that Morton glossed over Milly's wonderful gift as a social worker/therapist in a paragraph, for that was her career identity. Milly did her own mourning when she had to cease her private practice due to her illness. Still the book gives you a taste of her personality, one of those persons who were larger than life.
   
   "Saving Milly" achingly illustrates the struggle of a family who must care for a loved one through a long term illness and raises the question of politics, funding and ethics for those with incurable illnesses. I highly recommend this book.



4. Reading this book was like sitting at a kitchen table and letting Mort just pour his story out over a cup of coffee (like Mort, I am a recovering drunk so we can't do it over a beer). His is a story of passion, love, commitment and clear proof that there is nothing in my life I can ever complain about again.
   
   Millie is an extraordinary woman, her struggles with life, faith and Parkinson's come alive in this real narrative. You can't help but feel her pain, and Mort's immense love and commitment to her.
   
   I have always liked Kondracke as a pundit - I am a liberal republican, he a conservative democrat. We share similar feelings about nearly every issue except who we are most likely to initially vote for in a Presidential race. His struggle to get government officials to hear his plea for funding pissed me off - and I am sure you will share his frustrations in the reading.
   
   Most critically, you will absolutely be moved by the openness, honesty and devotion in this story.



5. Morton Kondrake's book is about much more than his wife Milly's Parkinson's disease. It's also about their life together, their marriage, the differences that caused friction between them, Kondrake's struggles in his career and those to overcome his own weaknesses, including, for a time, alcoholism. What emerges is a story of quiet heroism, both his and Milly's, as she defies the odds and continues to prove that her will to live is greater than her despair. Kondrake also writes about the politics of research and fundraising for various diseases, and how some diseases have more cache than others, even if the disease garnering more print and air time afflicts far fewer people than other devastating ailments. This may not come as a shock to people but it is still important so that we can all do what we can to campaign to make disease research and funding more equitable.

   I was most touched by Kondrake's unsparingly honest account of his own shortcomings as a man, a husband, and father, and how Milly, and eventually, her Parkinson's disease, made him grow into a far greater man than he was before. The fact that this is a true account makes this book very significant, and more moving than any fiction could be. It's impossible not to read it without tears.

4 comments about Learning to Walk Again: How Guillain Barre Taught Me to Walk a Different Path.

1. I became engrossed with the book 'Learning to Walk Again' as soon as I began reading it. I read it in one sitting. I learned about the difficulty of getting a correct diagonosis when dealing with various doctors and hospitals.And how you have to be persistant. It was a nightmare for Ann because of the pain she felt, until a diagonosis was found.Patients must not be seduced in believing that they just need therapy, and that it's all in their head! This book is on the cutting edge when it comes to information about Guillain Barre disease. Ann's first hand experience with the disease will help patients and families struggling with similar issues. It will act like a road map for them. It will help them to push and ask questions of their doctors. The book is well-researched about this little-known disease.
   In addition to the excellent information this book shares, it also delves into the important relationship between family members and how supportive and helpful they were to each other. Caregivers carry a heavy burden, and this book discusses the give and take that is necessary between partners and other family members.
   I also liked the writing style. Although the topic was difficult, the writing style was easy and conversational and even touched on humor. I visualized many of the scenes, a great indication of a good book, which this certainly was.
   I recommend this book to anyone who has a family member or friend suffering with this disease or other challening body problems.



2. Ann's personal story is an an amazing meld of
   knowledge of Guillain Barre and the painful (and
   humorous)process of her Recovery. A good read
   for anyone seeking hope and progress through a
   chronic illness, whether patient or caregiver.



3. As a fellow GBS survivor, I was eager to read Ms. Brandt's account of her experience. This disease does not discriminate when it strikes, and every person has a different journey. I suppose when you've been struck with such a life-altering experience, from out of nowhere, you seek connection and explanation.

   The book touches upon the elementary aspects of GBS, and poses some important questions. Like Ms. Brandt, I spent a good deal of time while in my recovery stage trying to prevent what had happened to me from happening to others. She reaches out to others who are in the acute phase of the disease through patient visitation, to other survivors through meetings and symposiums, and to the medical community through this book.

   Why had we been promised that we'd "get it all back"? Why isn't post-rehabilitation fatigue addressed as a separate phase of the syndrome?

   This book asks some important questions, and I hope that its publication will serve as a catalyst to get them answered.




4. I am going through recovery from GBS. Reading this book has been a great experience for me; once a received it, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. Ann's experience is very similar to mine and her book helped me in a therapeutic way; I re-lived many emotions, situations, funny moments, etc., and learned a little bit more about this syndrome. I recommend this book for people who are going through recovery as well as for those caregivers around them.

3 comments about Overcoming Asperger's: Personal Experience & Insight.

1. Every now and then you may be lucky enough to come across a work such as this. It's a very honest, sometimes painfully honest account of one man's struggle to live in a world that is almost too alien to bear. The insights in the journey of overcoming Asperger's Syndrome, sometimes sublime into the spirtual - to the very ordinary, are an inspiration. This is a must read! Whether your interest is professional or just understanding the human condition. You really do feel that you are walking with him, every step of the way.



2. This book is a rare gem and a recently discovered treasure. In addition to being well written, one can identify with much of what the author has chosen to share. It provides a much needed window with parted curtains into autism/Asperger's (a/A) perceptions and interpretations.
   
   It has been said and evidence appears to support the finding that people on the a/A spectrum learn empathy cognitively as opposed to intuitively. Seeing the view from another person's perspective is challenging for most people, but for those on the a/A spectrum it is all the more so.
   
   This book is one that commands respect; being able to disclose the level of information that is found in this book is nothing short of courageous. It is the voice of hope for those with any form of autism; for professionals and for those personally involved with people on the a/A spectrum. This is a book for everybody! Being able to share these insights and observations made me think of the song "Climb Every Mountain" from "The Sound of Music."
   
   Hats off to this book!



3. From a literary point of view, this is by far your best book yet. But from a subject matter point of view, it is just outstanding. It is written well enough that, as I read each of the episodes you relate, I agonized with you as you strove to deal with each. The book is a remarkable insight into the thoughts and personality, even the mind, of someone who looks at the world through a different set of lenses than most of us do.
   Cumulatively, the episodes and their outcomes gradually made me realize that something was missing in how you regarded the personnel in each event and how you assessed "blame" for the contretemps that often resulted. It eventually dawned on me that there was very little, if any, empathy for the views and feelings of others in the way you approached these situations. It seemed difficult for you to understand how the other guy or gal might feel about a particular situation. When I mentioned this to other professionals, they told me that the lack of empathy is a major symptom of Asperger's.
   However, the overriding feeling I experienced while reading your book was admiration. Time after time, I said to myself, "Man, that took a lot of guts to write that!" Although perhaps therapeutic, writing the book also must have been quite painful. But beyond whatever therapeutic value writing it had for you, think of how invaluable the insight you provide into what it is like to live with Asperger's and ultimately overcome it will be to others with the condition, to family and care-givers, and to medical and psychological professionals working to treat those with Asperger's. You have done a great service, undoubtedly at no small cost to yourself, to all who are involved in any way with this condition and they should be grateful.
   Congratulations on a job very well done!

No comments about The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter, New Edition.

5 comments about Show Me the Way to Go Home.

1. My mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease at fifty years. I found Larry Rose's account of what was happening to be a wonderful way to relate to her in a way that she was unable to describe to me. This book will be a "hard to put down" account of daily life for those facing similar experiences along the way through this dibilitating illness that robs so much. Larry finds a positive light to shine on purpose in life and to keep on living. He is truly a courageous story that should not be missed. A big five star read with a human approach.



2. This is a fascinating story actually written by an Alzheimer's patient in the early stages of the disease. Larry was diagnosed at age 54. This came after his getting lost on a trip, driving more than a hundred miles out of the way of the route to his destination before realizing it. Larry tries to see the good in this, writing that he has "more compassion for people, birds, deer, and the like" and he says "If when you read this book you feel a certain sadness...let yourself be sad, but not for me...I have had a good and prosperous life...Most of all, I have had the love of some beautiful people...and I have loved them, too."



3. I bought this book shortly after my husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimers. At that time he was 54 - the same age as Larry Rose. I found the book to be helpful & giving us both a positive outlook after being told of this dreadful diagnosis. Larry Rose allowed us to see into his life, showing us so many things that we could recognise from dealing with our own day to day problems, and always writing with a sense of humour & dignity. This book has now been passed on to my family, enabling them to better understand my husbands emotions & feelings. It will be highly recommended to the people in my support group.



4. I picked up Larry's Book, "Show me the way to go home", quite by chanceat a local book store. I was interested in Alzheimer's disease because my mother died from it a few years ago. I could not put the book down until I had read the last page. I read it again the next day and then again and again. Then I sat down and cried for a week. I found that I had fallen in Love with this handsome, dashing, man. If you have a friend or relative that is afflicted with this disease, you must read Larry's Book. He has achieved the impossible. He has given us an insight into the mind of person afflicted with this terrible disease. After reading his book and looking at his picture on the back cover, I feel that I know him well enough to call him Larry. Thank You, Larry, for your book and God Bless!Kathleen



5. Rose poignantly describes his painful experiences of living midlife with Alzheimer's disease. He recalls the early warning signs and symptoms; the process of medical diagnosis and treatment; telling friends and family; coping with the confusion, fear and anger; and family involvement in decisions of property, caregiving and support. Personal quality of life issues are addressed as the author's awareness of the beauty in the ordinariness of life is increased through this experience. A highly individual, personal experience with universal appeal. Recommended for general public library collections.

No comments about Crooked Smile: One Family's Journey Toward Healing.

5 comments about Limbo: A Memoir.

1. and I put down after only a few pages before. This time I started it I read the whole thing. The last part of the book had the deepest meeting for me. I am glad I gave it another chance. I have read her fictional story called "Sister" some time ago so I was familiar with the author. I also read the book "Read this and tell me what it means" another book by the author that book is a short story collection. I am glad I gave this book another chance. :)



2. There are those who easily turn to their religion to find comfort in the midst of nearly any difficulty. Then there are those who REFUSE to do so and who are able to find their way through the pain anyway.
   Ansay falls into the latter group (and I want to be clear here,...I'm not saying one viewpoint is better than the other, only pointing out the facts).
   She is quite honest about her unwillingness (or inability) to make that choice for herself. She is faced with a mysterious illness and no guarantee of recovery. She may be in a wheelchair all her life. She is young.
   THe result? A book about how she comes to grips with all of this WITHOUT insisting on finding "meaning" or a sense that she was destined for this or that there is some deeper significance or spiritual pattern in her illness.
   If you know someone in a similar circumstance, someone for whom religion is not an easy comfort and who wonders how others have coped, this would be a perfect choice. It is also worth reading by just about anyone who wonders "What if?" or "How would I handle this?". Honest, detailed and unflinching.



3. In "Limbo," a memoir by A. Manette Ansay, the author remembers growing up in the sixties and seventies, for the most part, with fondness. Although Ann's traditional Catholic upbringing gave her nightmares on more than one occasion, the strict rules and routines that governed her life made her feel secure. When her parents took her to Wisconsin, she got to know her large extended family, which included sixty-seven cousins. As a youngster, Ann enjoyed physical activity of any sort. She loved to run, jump, and wrestle, and she even did sit-ups and push-ups when she was in elementary school.
   
   One of the great loves of Ann's life was music. She took piano lessons for years and practiced for hours each day. She became so proficient that she was eventually admitted to the prestigious Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Tragically, her promising musical career was cut short when physical symptoms that she had been battling for years suddenly grew worse. She suffered from intense pain in her arms and legs, and the doctors she consulted could not agree on a diagnosis. She tried cortisone shots, anti-inflammatory drugs, splints, braces, surgery, hypnosis, and many other treatments. Nothing cured her, although there were times when she could walk under her own power for short distances. However, because of the pain in her arms, Ann knew that she had to give up her dream of becoming a concert pianist. After much soul searching, she eventually turned to writing.
   
   "Limbo" is an episodic memoir that goes back and forth in time. The shifts are sometimes too sudden and they give the book a choppy feel. In addition, it is a bit confusing when Ansay uses the present tense to describe events long past. However, her descriptive writing is vivid, lyrical, and evocative. She uses creative imagery to depict the people she has known and the experiences that have shaped her life. The author includes in her memoir engrossing anecdotes about a wide variety of topics, including her troubled Grandmother Ansay, the way that Chaim Potok's novel, "The Chosen" changed her view of the world, her ambivalence about religion, and her childhood worries and escapades.
   
   The book is most affecting when Ann talks about her illness and how it transformed her. She attended and completed college, even though she was unable to take notes or written exams. Strangers stared and pointed at her in her wheelchair or made rude comments about her disability, such as, "You've got it easy--the rest of us have to walk." However, the illness brought Ann closer to her parents, especially her mother, who was an invaluable asset to her sick daughter. In 1986, Ann's mother took her on a seven-hour drive to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota every six weeks for treatments.
   
   Today, Ansay is a successful writer, and she has come to terms with her condition. She says, "It's a good life, made up of the people I love, the novels I've written and those I plan to write . . . ." Her persistence, determination, and resilience are inspiring, and I recommend "Limbo" for those who are interested in a true story of courage and grace under pressure.



4. 
   "The abyss opens beneath our feet, and we leap it,
   *not* because we are particularly brave, but simply
   because we must. We land in a whole new country. We
   put on its clothing, learn its customs, begin again .
   . . ."
   
   This book is the saga of one person's approach to the
   abyss, her eventual leap, and the long process of
   resettlement in the "whole new country" -- a locale in
   which she resides with grace and wisdom.
   
   The book is also a succinct autobiography,
   selective in its particulars. While it begins and ends with the author's transition to chronic disability, its substantial midsection constitutes one long flashback to her most
   formative years. In these pages, she allows us ever so gradually past the periphery and closer to the essence of her active, exploratory childhood and her "good-girl" adolescence in the small community of Port Washington, Wisconsin.
   
   Especially subtle and well-crafted
   are the evolving portraits of the most influential
   people in her life: the feisty, sometimes fiery
   immigrant grandparents; the mother who drives long
   distances (often through the chilliest northern landscapes, in an unheated car) to deliver the author
   to the best available music lessons; perhaps most endearing, in the end, the taciturn breadwinner-father
   -- for it is her father's story, once his speech begins to flow in the face of his daughter's suffering, that ultimately anchors, even permits the telling of, her own story. As Ansay flowers into full personhood, becoming ever more accessible and sympathetic to the reader -- so does he: a man whose life was,likewise, disrupted and derailed by serious illness in his youth. They share a certain resigned if sorrowful firsthand knowledge, as well as a deep camaraderie, borne of their historical social isolation and gratuitous suffering
   
   As the author recounts her life, she mentions almost in passing -- confessing to what she seems to
   consider an amateurish avocation -- that she has written some poetry early on. However modest she herself may consider those early efforts, a fine poetic sensibility is evident throughout the description of her odyssey to the edge
   of the abyss and beyond: the rhythmic flow and careful patterning of her prose, her well-honed capacity for understatement and nuance.
   
   No doubt her writing has also been influenced by her
   long and rigorous training in music. Until she is
   stricken by the still-undiagnosed (demyelinating?)
   disorder that forces her to leave the Peabody
   Conservatory and abandon her longtime dream -- a career as a concert pianist -- music is her daily regimen, even obsession. It becomes her spiritual sustenance as well: "the purest language I knew, the bridge between what I was supposed to believe and what I knew in my heart to be true." The transition to a whole new language -- to literature and the writing of novels -- becomes her ultimate redemption and salvation; inevitably, her first language informs her second.
   
   It is that first and dearest language -- the hours of grueling piano practice -- the push for a better instrument, a better instructor, a scholarship -- that carries her safely through the Port Washington years. Even in childhood, though, we see evidence of other strengths, such as her keen observational powers, her sensitivity to sensory input. We see through her young eyes the lush checkerboard of Wisconsin farmland, viewed from a child's perch on a bicylcle -- the squares reflecting the whole ordered lifestyle of immigrant farmers, the clearly delineated boundaries of their industrious and God-fearing moral code. We come to know, too, through the author's neurons and receptors, the omnipresence of Lake Michigan in its many moods; at a certain season, mentally strolling its beaches beside her, we can almost inhale the rich rankness of the alewives.
   
   We also come to see how asphyxiating a small community can be in terms of its moral strictures -- its church-bound preoccupations -- and we catch glimpses of its predictably sinister underbelly. Ansay writes of growing up amid a vast, extended Catholic family, primarily originating in Luxembourg and Germany. The somewhat monolithic family, the insular and even xenophobic community (its first Jewish family arrives during Ansay's eighties-childhood, but soon returns to the city) impresses upon her relentlessly the obligation not to make waves, never to stand out too noticeably or think too highly of oneself.
   
   Thus, as she navigates an adolescence both gifted and
   repressed, it seems somewhat inevitable that resentful classmates take to terrorizing
   her -- threatening gross punishments (assault, even rape) for her alleged aloofness or visible self-regard; bringing her to fear she may not even make it to graduation before she is annihilated. Her descriptions of the high school sociopaths who lurk in the shadows, of the horrifying notes slipped anonymously into her locker, will ring true for everyone who has ever been bullied in school -- for every woman or girl who has dared not to apologize for intellectual excellence or
   outstanding achievment.
   
   In fact, though she doesn't say so explicitly,
   the creepy two-bit persecution Ansay recounts from her high school years is probably good preparation for her later encounters with adult-aged creeps and insensates -- with the whole gallery of unthinking, gaping, sometimes reproving or sermonizing strangers who tend to assail a visibly disabled person wherever she goes, intruding on her privacy and dignity with their endless repertoire of bizarre questions and surreal remarks.
   
   By the time Ansay reaches her twenties -- an
   expatriate Catholic with severe new medical limitations,
   reconciling herself to assistive devices such as wheel
   chairs and power scooters -- she seems eminently well
   equipped to deal with such individuals. She dispatches
   them with a wonderful, dry, ironic sense of humor that
   had me laughing and reading passages out loud to those
   few people in my own life who might understand. The
   smarmy, patronizing salesman; the man in the cultish
   pain management program whose hand she would rather
   not be holding during Twelve-Step-esque vespers; the
   intrusive evangelist who speaks to her of throwing away her wheel chair -- all are fair game for Ansay's droll, subtle, devastating wit.
   
   This memoir properly belongs to the genre of
   such outstanding works as Nancy Mairs's *Waist-High in
   the World,* Oliver Sacks's *A Leg to Stand On,* and
   the wonderful New Yorker piece by Laura Hillenbrand
   (author of *Seabiscuit*), "A Sudden Illness -- How My
   Life Changed.* It might be read especially
   appropriately as a complement to the fine expository
   volume and research study *When Walking Fails* by Lisa
   Iezzoni, a distinguished Harvard health researcher and
   veteran of MS.
   
   All refugees -- abyss-leapers, entrants into the
   wilderness -- must typically limit their luggage
   severely, settling on a few spare, precious remnants
   they will transport into that whole new country.
   
   This spare, poetic, insightful memoir --
   marked up in black ballpoint and yellow highlighter,
   extruding additional notes and comments on multiple
   rainbow-Post-Its -- elegantly truthful, no matter how
   hard the truths -- calmly, sometimes delightfully companionable in its recounting of familiar interpersonal misunderstandings at once horrific and hilarious -- is definitely one of my own essentials, to be tucked into my specially lightweight backpack or that small, handy storage space just under the seat of my walker.
   
   Elizabeth Rasche Gonzalez
   Medical/Legal Writing & Editorial Services
   Chicago, Illinois
   Email: poetryperson@sbcglobal.net
   
   The author is a longtime medical writer and midlife law graduate (admitted to the bar in 1994). Since 1997, she has been disabled by defective spinal hardware, surgically implanted to correct scoliosis. In the past five years, she has undergone six additional spinal revision surgeries. Elizabeth owns and manages a 488-member forum for other adults with scoliosis who are coping with ongoing problems arising from Harrington rod instrumentation: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FeistyScolioFlatbackers



5. Since writing my own memoir, BABY CATCHER: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife (Scribner 2002), I have been studying the style of other memorists. I found Ansay's prose lyrical, mesmerizing, and almost poetic throughout this beautiful book. To be able to write about her losses as a result of a still-mysterious illness similar to MS, with calmness and lack of hyperbole, is admirable and enviable. From the very beginning you know this story doesn't have a happy outcome, but at no time did I feel depressed. On some level, I rejoiced for this author, for her own successes and insight and hope and the joy in small gains, small triumphs over her difficulties. Limbo is a love story, an admirable one. I wish this author lived next door to me. I would sit at her feet in awe and bake her cookies and bread at every opportunity. May she continue to write and write and write.