2 comments about The Quander Quality: The True Story of a Black Trailblazing Diabetic.

1. Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (11/06)
   
   James Quander was a trailblazer. He was an African American living in a society that had not yet accepted equality of all. He was a man with diabetes at a time when it was considered a disability and something that should be hidden.
   
   After a severe insulin reaction, Rohulamin encouraged his dad to write his courageous story. Rohulamin felt that reading about James' struggle with juvenile diabetes could encourage millions of others. Others needed to know that you can live successfully with this ailment. Together James and Rohulamin wrote this book.
   
   James was born in 1918 in Washington, D.C. He was officially diagnosed with diabetes.
   Bedwetting had become a problem. On one particular Easter Sunday James woke up tired and grouchy. He wasn't feeling well and was barely dragging along. "I collapsed onto one of the two forest green park benches that we always sat on in the front yard in the evenings. I just could not move and relished the fact that I was home... at least almost in my own room, in my own bed." When his father rushed to see if he was ok, "I answered, "Papa, Papa come get me. I'm too weak to get up. I can hardly move. Come get me." James was too weak to walk. Dr. Wilder was called, he suspected Juvenile Diabetes. Dr. Wilder and James became a team working together to prevent the condition from getting worse. "Never once did Mama or Papa ever let on to me that they believed that I was not going to make it. Instead they decided that they would do everything within their human ability to provide me with a quality of life equal to that of my two brothers and three sisters."
   
   James Quander shares his experiences with us, from being diabetic to playing basketball in high school, to his struggle with Scarlet Fever, to his academic achievements. I enjoyed reading Mr. Quander's story. It is one of success, and courage. The writing is superb; the cover introduces the book well. I highly recommend "The Quander Quality" to all who enjoy non-fiction, and to those who have diabetes or are parents of a diabetic.



2. The Quander Quality: The True Story Of A Black Trailblazing Diabetic co-authored by the father and son team of James W. Quander and Rohulamin Quander is the engaging biography of the late James W. Quander (1918-2004). Telling the intriguing story of Quander's diagnosis of diabetes shortly before his sixth birthday, and his dedicated and courageous pursuit to live a fulfilled and purposeful life, The Quander Quality is the inspirational and deeply personal history of how Quander eventually became on of the sixteen men ordained in the United States when the Permanent Diaconate was revived after an eight-hundred-year hiatus. An inspirational and engaging example of living and pursuing life to its greatest limits, The Quander Quality is very highly recommended as for all readers searching for a true life example of timely and enduring truths manifested in an ordinary human being with an extraordinary determination.

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1 comments about The Days After.

1. A fine book for anyone interested in getting a perspective on life after a life-changing event.

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5 comments about The Bear's Embrace: A Story of Survival.

1. This book was written very well, I could feel the authors pain and suffering. The book mentions a documentary TV program that is about this incident--but I haven't been able to track it down.



2. The knee-jerk reviews that call this an 'inspirational', 'you can overcome anything' memoir are unbelievably obtuse. The unexpurgated, NC-17 truth of the matter is that the author committed suicide shortly after the publication of this book, apparently overcome by the enormity of what had happened to her and what was taken away from her by this horrible encounter with a bear. I felt that the end of the book, with its strenuous and somewhat fake-seeming efforts to find a 'silver lining' in her misfortune were perhaps the result of pressure from the editor/publisher to end the story in an upbeat way. The bottom line in the publishing biz is that downers don't sell. Sorry, all you 'smile button' types: sometimes the unvarnished truth is that you cannot turn the page, because the page weights a ton.



3. This is a deeply moving story about surviving---not just a brutal bear attack, but the facial disfigurement, long-term pain and surgeries, and the deep depression caused by no one understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, 20 years ago. As someone who lived in Canada for 20 years, I believe that Patricia's critique of her medical care is NOT a critique of the Canadian system of health care funding, but of how little was understood back then about trauma, and how to rebuild one's life after such horror. This is a deeply spiritual book, in spite of its graphic descriptions of her facial damage, and the clumsy surgical attepts to fix it. This book should be required reading for all people in the health care and mental health fields. It might teach compassion for "difficult" patients, who have much to teach us.



4. I believe that this story was a great description of a persons will and determination to survive. The book is very well explained and tells a lot about the human spirit. It is something that you would read on a rainy Saturday afternoon with a cup of hot cocoa or a hot cup of coffee whatever you prefer. A great read indeed.



5. I read the book in one sitting. I simply could not put it down no matter how many pressing/important things I needed to do. It has stayed with me long after, as well. This book was not what I expected. After chapter two which was the attack and rescue I wondered how the author could fill the rest of the book with the recovery. In moving prose, with bare honesty, she takes us on her harrowing journey. Through it all is her Homeric husband(demanding work, chronically ill/incapacitated wife, growing needy children AND building his own home - whom we come to love and admire, too). Yes, this story is an unwitting condemnation of the Canadian socialized quality of medicine, but it is ultimately the strength and perseverance of the human spirit. Please continue to write, we readers have come to care for you and your family deeply.

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