head injury

Review: Piece of Mind by Michelle Adelman

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I admit, I’m a sucker for young adultish stories about people facing challenges of all kinds.  Physical, emotional, mental…I love reading about how people overcome obstacles to succeed.

Lucy has a happy life.  Maybe some people would disagree, but as a victim of a traumatic brain injury at age three, her life is as good as she could hope.  Sure, she still lives at home with dad at the ripe old age of twenty-seven.  But they have their routines, and consistency is what she thrives on. She has trouble relating to people and depends on her dad to help her stay organized and on schedule.

All that changes, however, when her dad suddenly dies leaving her an orphan.  Thankfully she has a brother to swoop in and take over, albeit a younger brother.  Nate finds himself having to give up college, his band, his independence, pretty much everything as Lucy moves into his tiny apartment with him.  Of course there are many struggles to adjust, and some of them don’t go so well.  Lucy has to ask herself if she’s truly as helpless as she’s led herself to believe.  Or has she been making excuses all these years?

This could easily be called a coming of age story even though Lucy is older than your typical young person who tries to find herself.  But there are real problems for Lucy as she faces the prospect of being on her own, finding romance, taking on a job. The story feels authentic from beginning to end and encompasses all you would imagine such a person going through.  Very enjoyable!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  Piece of Mind

 

Review: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

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*1I absolutely loved this book. The scenario is simple enough….Alice bumps her head and wakes up and can’t remember the last 10 years of her life.

Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. Sure we can run into a friend that we haven’t seen for ages and judge them….how much have they changed….how much have they remained the same….are they thinner? Thicker? Do they act the same? Are they still lovely? Are they cynical? How much can someone change in ten years? How many life events can happen?

But stop all that….forget about your husband, you children, your parents, your siblings, and your friends….let’s stop for a second and look at ourselves. Whoa….that’s right….how much have YOU changed in the last 10 years? How has the changes you’ve made effected how people perceive you? How has it effected how you perceive OTHER people?

Not so simple now is it? We all know that people change…but it happens year by year….month by month….week by week…and day by day…..it happens so gradually that perhaps we don’t even realise it at all….until we wake up one day and ten years have passed….and we wonder…where did I go?

But Alice has no idea why she has changed. Why people treat her differently….she has only the view of herself from ten years ago…she has none of the newer memories that changed her to explain why….so she is left wondering how this could have happened. She is left judging herself and trying to figure it all out.

The novel gives you much to think about. The more you think about it, the more you have to think about. Imagine yourself 10 years ago…..now imagine your younger self looking at who you are today…with none of the knowledge of how you got there…..what would they see? WHO would they see? Would they be happy? Would they be a bit surprised? Disappointed? Would you feel confident that you had chosen the correct path and that you had made the right choices?

If not, would you be brave enough to make the changes your younger self desired? Sure we have all heard that saying….”If I only knew then what I know now”…..but really what does that mean? If you know it NOW, why not do the best you can to rectify it? Why assume that just because it was in the past that it’s too late to change yourself and try to make things better? Do we just use sayings like that for an excuse to take the easy road and not make changes in our life?

Again…so much to ponder here….I do believe I need to hurry up and read another Liane Moriarty book….this was pure bliss for me….

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty