Coma Books

There is some pretty critical information in here for people dealing with Coma as well as altered states of consciousness -- especially near death.

Mindell suggests (and shows) that people experiencing these things are very much "alive" despite being in a vegetative state, and provides encouraging stories about how such people have been helped and communicated with using what he calls "Process" therapy.

If you know someone going through this, please find a copy of this book and/or something else on the topic of process therapy. It may mean the world.

Arnold Mindell offers inspiring and though provoking examples of innovative techniques for communicating with those often thought to be past human interaction. He offers good theoretical and technical advice. As a health care provider, I found this book easy to read and very thought provoking. My family also had the opportunity to employ some of these ideas with one of our own family members, and it made a wonderful difference. This is a great resource for anyone interested in exploring new and creative realms of human communication and spiritual journeying when coping with life-threatening illness.

"Excelente" es lo único que puedo decir acerca de este libro. Explica los diferentes tipos de coma (seis en total, sin mal no recuerdo), que se pueden presentar en el idioma español, y le permite al lector que tenga un mejor conocimiento del manejo de la misma. Su estilo es bastante informal, y eso es lo que permite que se siga la lectura con facilidad. Se lo recomiendo a cualquier persona que tenga que trabajar a diario con diferentes tipos de textos en el idioma español.

Este libro explica muy bien los puntos finos del idioma español. De hecho, viviendo en Estados Unidos, había 'olvidado' las simples reglas del uso de los signos de puntación. Fernado Avila enseña, entre otras cosas, que el uso de los signos de puntacion nada tiene que ver con la respiración durante la lectura en voz alta. Hay reglas especificas que evitan la confusion y el doble sentido en las oraciones, que es la funcion principal de los signos de puntacion. Muy buen libro. Lo recomiendo para aquellos que se preguntan la razon de cierta coma (o la ausencia de) en un lugar de la oracion.

Really enjoyed this read. Could not put it down--finished in an afternoon. The issue of starting another relationship when the one you are in is uncertain caused me to consider what I would do under similar circumstances--not an easy choice. McKayhan's writing is excellent and keeps the story moving. I thought the ending was great. Lainey deserved some happiness after everything she had gone through.

I gave the book 4.5 stars instead of 5 because it ended a little too perfect, otherwise it is a good read. If you have not read any of Ms McKayhans other novels you are missing out! She is an excellent story teller. Ms. McKayhan gives her readers a great story, stories with substance. I promise you, you will not be dissapointed.

This is the first book I have read by Richard Selzer. I was impressed. I rarely find books that I actually enjoy reading. Selzer unique writing style makes you want to read more.


Very Good Book

"Raising The Dead" by Richard Selzer is a remarkable book. Beginning at the moment he realizes that something is just not right with him, "I can't say..." through a physically devastating journey through the illness of Legionnaires disease and of his trials and traumas he suffered while in long term Critical Care. His loving family and insightful wife, Janet, make for the lighter moments in the book. I've learned never to bring spooky, witch-headed tulips to a critically ill patient's bedside and how important a simple wall clock can be. So glad Richard survived to share with us his eloquently written journey of being suddenly stricken with a near fatal illness. I'm forever grateful that he is still among the living. In every one of his works, he brings to his readers the work of an intelligent and exceptionally talented man.

If you have a friend since childhood, you will love this story.
If marriages followed their example, there would be no divorces.
Read it, you won't put it down!!!!

I have read several of Kristin Hannah's books, and have enjoyed each one of them. Her relationships are thoroughly developed, and her story progresses nicely, keeping your interest through some mystery.

Mikaela falls from her horse and is in a coma. Her husband Liam, a doctor, is in charge of the family and children along with his mother-in-law Rosa. When nothing else seems to work, he makes a call to Mikaels's first husband, a famous, sexy, good looking, first love of her life movie star named Julian True. His voice brings her out of her coma. She has no memory of her life with Liam or her children. Over time, she regains her memory and remembers her deep love for Liam and her family. Forever, she promises him as they trim the Christmas tree. Enjoyed this book very much. A good read for a rainy day with no interruptions.

Mikaela (Mica) Campbell is thrown from a horse and is so seriously injured that she falls into a long-term coma. Mica's husband, Dr. Liam Campbell, is left to care for their children. While sitting by Mica's hospital bed, willing her to recover, Liam talks endlessly to her. He recreates their life together through their shared history.

Inadvertently, Liam discovers the identity of Mica's first husband and father to her first child. Julian is a 'huge' movie star who was the love of her life. Julian, a shallow man, is convinced that he may be the person who is able to bring Mica out of her coma and agrees to travel to her bedside. Mica emerges from the coma, and what happens then is what helps her look at life through different 'colored' glasses.

Angel Falls is a family drama about how tragedy impacts the individual members and how they rise to the occasion and pull together. And it is about a loving, gentle husband who deeply loves his wife and will do what is necessary to help her recover; even if it means he might lose her.

Hannah's characters are richly drawn and the plot is compelling. It is a book you will enjoy and I guarantee that you will recommend it to others.

Armchair Interviews highly recommends Angel Falls.

This is the first novel I've read by this author, and I'm on Amazon right now searching for more of her books! On one hand, I agree with some viewers that this was a light read, but on the other hand, it was also emotionally intriging. I have never cried while reading a book, but I did so at the beginning AND at that end of this novel! What a great story -- I couldn't put it down. You are rooting for the main couple in this book from start to finish, and your heart just goes out to the children in the story. I can't say enough good things about Ms. Hannah's writing. I'm certainly a dedicated fan now.

what a great writer. I hate when her books end. Strong characters that you really like. The story evokes such emotions that you feel you are in the room with them, or at least want to be.
moving, serious, good humor. what more could you want, other than another book by her!

As usual, Elizabeth Berg's tender writing style carried me away with her characters. The touching caring feelings that come from reading this book was worth many times the cost of the book. It's a perfect book to escape to on a lazy summer day.

I have read just about everything Elizabeth Berg has written & am always looking forward to her next book. This is a beautifully written book that brings you into the lives of such real, believeable people....people you want to reach out & hug, to drive to the hospital, watch their kids, bring them over a casserole. Elizabeth draws you slowly into their lives, making you care about them, cry with them & laugh out loud with them. The book's title is as much about the book characters themselves as it is about the author's growth as a writer. She only gets better with each book!

I have enjoyed reading books by Elizabeth Berg. I couldn't wait to find out the ending of this book. This writer has a unique talent with words on paper. She describes things in a way that allows the reader to see things a little different. I find myself absorbed not only in the story but the way she tells it. This was a unique plot. It isn't just the story of a woman whose husband is in a coma. It is a story of the things in her life that help her cope. From the next door neighbor who is losing her husband to another, to the apparition who distracts her enough to help take her mind off her troubles. This is another great read by Berg! Highly recommend

Once again Elizabeth Berg delivers a heartwarming tale of true friendship - I love her characters, the way they relate, the believable (and enviable) bond between her female friends. I have read several of Berg's books and have loved them all - this one made me both laugh and cry. I would definitely recommend it.

Anyone who enjoys a good medical thriller should read this book. Robin Cook is a terrific writer and I would recommend reading all his books. He is my favorite writer. All his books are great reads.

Coma is a good book of the suspense genre with a few flaws. If you read the 25th anniversary author's note at the beginning, you will know why the patients are being put into comas. This took away from the experience and shock value of the ending. However, the plot itself was fast and fun to read. The characters are a little on the shallow side, but were actually quite interesting. The protagonist's actions and motivations are not explained well at all, but this is being picky. Coma came out 30 years ago, so some of the technology is dated, but I found this humorous. Give this book a shot if you are looking for a fast, easy, but forgettable read.

I'm sorry, but this was Robin Cook's worst books... It was slow going, boring and more like a TV drama that I don't care about. It was okay for a first novel, but I read more of his recent ones to be an inkling impressed with this one....

THERE'S A SMOKING HOT CHICK IN THIS BOOK! Ok, now that I have your attention... I personally wasn't to enthralled with the beginning. It just didn't grab my attention. There's alot of medical talk in this book, so be prepared to be a little confused at times. But don't get me wrong, it has it's plusses. There are some weird things going on in the story (which in my oppinion make the book pretty much), and as previously stated, there's this hot chick that is the main character. Which of course, every guy in the book has to mention, is hot. I got really tired of hearing about it. Robin Cook obviously knows a good bit of medical terminology apparently, which makes the book seem a little more plausible. Overall a pretty good read.

Michael Crichton is one of my favourite writers, but having read all of his novels, I was at a loss as to what to read next. Taking into account the fact that Crichton wrote and directed the movie of "Coma", I decided that the book of this film would probably be along the same lines as a Michael Crichton novel and I was right. Robin Cook is to medical thrillers what Michael Crichton is to technological thrillers.

This, Cook's second novel, tells of young medical student, Susan Wheeler and her quest to solve the mystery of why so many seemingly "healthy" patients are slipping into comas at the Boston Memorial Hospital. Although first published in 1977, over 30 years later this book is still relevant and exciting (although the description of the hospital's "state of the art" computer is laughable by modern standards). Being relatively new to writing, Cook does make some of the mistakes that you would expect of an inexperienced writer, and the ending was a bit abrupt for my liking, but in general, the mistakes are few and far between and aren't all that important.

Overall, the book is well written, the characters are believable and in Susan Wheeler, Cook creates a heroine whom I felt I could cheer for and identify with. Best of all, Cook does not talk down to his readers. He assumes that his readers are as intelligent as his characters. There is a lot of medical-talk in this book and by the end of it, I still didn't understand a lot of it, but simply from 380 pages of exposure, I felt that I had picked up some of it and felt like I had learnt something as a result.

Finally, prospective readers should note, in my edition of this book there is a letter from Robin Cook at the very beginning. If you don't already know what happens in "Coma", don't read this letter. It contains some major plot spoilers. You should also avoid reading the "Author's Note" (at the back of the book), until you have finished.

I have rarely heard a narrator's voice so well-suited to a character as is Dion Graham's voice is to Rutherford Calhoun. The entire book is written in first person as a personal journal of a ne'er-do-well former slave from Illinois who lives in New Orleans in 1830. Calhoun stows away on a ship that he discovers is a slave ship bound for West Africa. It is captained by an American explorer and adventurer with a strong personality and an insatiable desire for new experiences.

Along the way, Calhoun discovers that the slaves and the cargo in the hold are not normal, in fact they might be more accurately described as paranormal. I would say more but I want to avoid spoilers.

In reality, this book is not a good piece of historical fiction - historical anachronisms abound. Rather, it is an exceptional piece of fiction full of good old-fashioned literary themes, adventure, personal growth and literary allusions, including the obvious ones such as Moby Dick and Homer's Odyssey.

One of the larger themes is freedom and servitude. Most obviously there are the slaves, but Charles Johnson also explores the debts we owe one another, society in gneral, employer/employee, men and women, parent and child, god and man and the way our past binds us to our future. Looked at in all of these contexts, the reader may wonder if any of us are really free?

The closest "new" book that I've read is The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti, but it doesn't come close.

I highly recommend this book, especially the audio version Middle Passage, since it so perfectly narrated.

Anachronisms, one after the other. Just in the first fifteen pages: Isabella chooses not to travel by railroad to New Orleans, which is a good thing, since there weren't any in the 1820s. Rutherford refers to "Piltdown Man", who wasn't dug up until 1912. "Credit to the race" is a twentieth century phrase. And "locofoco" matches were invented four years after "Entry, the first" was supposedly written.

I can't imagine what else Johnson comes up with in the remaining 200 pages, but this kind of carelessness doesn't warrant serious reading, much less a national book award!!

From the very beginning of Middle Passage, Charles Johnson has already launched his readers into active engagement with his protagonist and narrator, Rutherford Calhoun. The story is broken into eight diary entries, and throughout Calhoun's first entry, he gives justifications of why he has sought to escape to sea. In building precedence upon his incessant hunger for adventure, it permeated throughout like an undertow for his first entry. Sure, it might've been a "set-up" that took him aboard the ship, but readers already knew as Calhoun had revealed earlier of being envious of the sailors. Perhaps he too wanted to "escape the vanities cityfolk called self-interest, the mediocrity the called achievement, the blatant selfishness they called individual freedom" (Middle Passage 4). This unrelenting desire was irreconcilable until he finally reached his designation, aboard ship call the Republic. Yes it is escape Calhoun speaks of, yet Middle Passage really is the antithesis for escape, rather, it confronts the layers beneath the surface of one's true identity. His subconscious--as how the ocean represents--drove him to "get out," be lost in that state of unknown, so he might engage his true identity apart from the futile everyday masks he wanted no part in.

Since Johnson had set up Calhoun as one who is somewhat masochistic and self-conflicted, naturally, it seemed instability; threats of outbreak and chaos are always around the corner. From the very beginning, I found myself dreading for what's to come, for it felt like I was walking into Calhoun's dark tunnel, I expected no light to come until the last entry, and it didn't. In spite of having been raised privileged--as to the slaves at that time--in his upbringing, he was classic prodigal, who might have equated living responsibly as ill-desired. There was something Calhoun wanted to prove to his former slave master, a reverend, and also his well-to-do brother. Untamed and defiant to the norms of societal expectations, he seemed quite conscious of inner rebellion to his childhood past. Truth is, what he ultimately desire is wholeness; a unity with the inferiority experiences as the abandoned son by his father. The layers upon layers were calling for him to excavate, could only be achieved being "lost" at sea. And as Calhoun returned ashore, he was rewarded with what he had wanted all along, to finally feel as though he's home. He now possesses character and selflessness, and he is at rest with the woman he first escaped from, Isadora. This goal was realized as he returned to his starting point, the story has traveled full circle, and thus, Calhoun have indeed accomplished the very thing he wanted, to be.

Johnson's The Middle Passage is outwardly about the slave trade. Readers who approach this book with that expectation will be somewhat disappointed. Although the horrors of slavery are detailed, overall the book is not about the past but about the present. Johnson has created a free for all post-modern pile. The characters discuss religion, the connection of the mind and the body, the nature of reality (ontology), among a host of other topics. Then Johnson drops little hints that this novel is really about current reality: on page 31, the captain explains to Calhoun that he knows "headmasters give literate Negroes degrees because they feel too guilty to fail them, then employers give that same boy a place in the firm since he's got the degree in hand and saying no will bring a gang of Abolitionists down on their necks." Affirmative action discussed, here on an early 19th century slave ship. Johnson's book should be approached as a clever critique of 21st century America, more than a strict sea narrative. Only then does its flights of fancy make much sense.

"Middle Passage" makes for very interesting, moving, and rivetting reading. Part fiction, part novel, part history, part slave narrative, part Moby Dick, Johnson's work draws out the feel of the deck, the smell of the ocean, the pain of the whip, and the agony of the soul.

For those wanting an even more real-to-life understanding of Middle Passage, read the first-hand accounts of Falconbridge (English ship surgeon), Cugoano, and Equiano (the latter two free Africans forced to endure Middle Passage).

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Soul Physicians, and Spiritual Friends.

As I do with most of my paperback mysteries, I gave this to the thrift shop soon after reading it. I wish I hadn't. It was one of those rare stories that sticks in the mind, and I'm actually tempted to get a new copy. Every Walters book is terrific, and I think this one's the best I've read.

This book is a huge disappointment, given what an extraordinarily gifted writer Walters is, and how good her other books are.

The hero with amnesia is a plot device that one must be careful with, because such a story can degenerate into obvious reader manipulation if, as here, it isn't handled with finesse or creativity. Walters drops the ball with this one, and the result is a story that is on the level of Agatha Christie's lesser works, combined with an ending that is marginally better than "...and she woke up to discover that it was all a dream."

Even that isn't necessarily all that great a crime. Let's face it, when you're on vacation lying on a beach, Dame Agatha remains quite readable all these decades later. But if one is going to write something so predictable and pedestrian, one could at least have the decency to do it is less than FOUR HUNDRED #$&@ING PAGES!!!! Had this tripe been condensed into 200 to 250, which given the overall lack of content it easily could have been, it would have been worth an extra star.

Jinx Kingsley is found thrown from her car which has smashed head-on into a wall. It is believed that she was trying to kill herself because her fiance Leo has run off with her best friend Meg. Jinx's father Adam, a former gangster and now extremely rich and powerful businessman has Jinx admitted to a hospital where Dr. Protheroe tries to help her with her amnesia and why she doesn't believe she would try to committ suicide. Then Leo and Meg are found murdered and the police discover that Jinx's first husband was also murdered in a similar fashion. Now she and her gangster father are the prime suspects in three killings of which she can only remember bits and pieces.

The Dark Room is technically well written and Walters gives all the characters depth. The story keeps your interest enough that you want to know who actually committed the murders. However, the mystery is overplotted. Their are too many characters to keep straight and too many people lying so you, as the reader, never know what is going on either. The entire book devolves into nothing but conversations and question and answer sessions whether it's between Jinx and the police or Jinx and her doctor or Jinx and another patient or her half-brothers. Nothing happens for much of the book and it gets tedious covering the same ground again and again from a different character's perspective. Jinx, as the main character, is not all that likable either. She's petulant and arrogant and lies as much as everyone else. The ending is also a let-down, the real killer revealing theirself in an anti-climactic fashion and turning out to not have that much to do with the rest of the story anyway.

Lately I have been on a Minette Walters jag - reading one after the other of her fine psychological novels. This is one of the best because of the unique plot and the mesmerizing, no-nonsense Jinx - what a gal!! Walters has taken the familiar suicide attempmt/amnesia/murder story and given it wings. She takes off as we set out on our journey to discover the dark secrets that remain unlocked in her head.

Jinx, despite her near-death accident and subsequent trauma, maintains a saucy manner, brutal honesty and fragility that combine into an authentic character that one can easily picture scolding, berating or confessing in a moment of weakness. This is a woman trapped by her exacting standards, finding no one who measures up to what she expects - not of others but herself. As usual there is a male romantic interest and, as usual, the circumstances under which they meet are not optimal. Walters excels as presenting adults (not horny teens) in hesitant situations. As complex as her characters are presented, the human relationships are even more strained. This is a classic case of English angst a la Carre. The male hero, her doctor, even identifies himself as an existentialist.

I graded down 1/2 point for what I consider a frequent error in mysteries. The identity of the villian is a surprise to the reader because there were no clues provided or rather, there were a host of misleading clues. But once again this was handled with subtlety by a case of look alikes.

My grade: A

A horrendous suicide attempt has landed Jinx Kingsley in the Nightingale Psychiatric Clinic, her body damaged from a nearly-fatal car crash and her mind clouded by the trauma. Unfortunately, amnesia has hampered Jinx's memory of the recent past, other than the knowledge that she has broken off her engagement to Leo Wallader, a miserly opportunist who announced his determination to wed Jinx's best friend, Meg, instead. Currently, the two lovers have repaired to France to wait out the expected family outrage; Jinx remains hospitalized, explaining to suspicious detectives that she has not the temperament for suicide. But facts belie Jinx's adamant declarations, even her doctor, Alan Protheroe expressing disbelief. And no one has heard from Meg and Leo when two beaten bodies are discovered in the woods; it is eventually determined by officials that the slaughtered victims are indeed Jinx's friend and former fiancé. Now Jinx is a murder suspect.

Walters salts her crafty plot with the usual ploys, an eccentric cast and the use of press clippings and police reports. Jinx comes from a colorful family: her father, Adam Kingsley, a self-made man who fought his way up from the streets, a figure who inspires fear in those who oppose him; a drunken, belligerent step-mother, Betty, who cannot compete with Jinx's dead mother; Jinx's two surly step-brothers, Miles and Fergus, spoiled young men who complain constantly and fritter away their days gambling and getting high; Meg's brother, a man of the cloth who sees issues in black and white; and Jinx's deceased husband, Russell, who was bludgeoned to death ten years earlier, his murder still unsolved. Other than Russell, who appears in her nightmares, all the other characters show up in Jinx's hospital room at one time or another, everyone with his own agenda, even the doctor, who wants Jinx to remember for her own safety.

As is usual, Walters mixes unlikely protagonists and a compelling plot, although in this case, most of those involved are either unsavory or unlikable. When the obvious connection is made between Russell's death and the more recent murders, the police, one impassioned detective in particular, fix their sights on Jinx as the clever murderer, not the victim. Indeed, Jinx does hold the key to the mystery, but it is locked in her mind along with confused fragments of memory, leaving her reluctant to share what she doesn't understand. Menace lurks nearby, the doctor attacked on the clinic premises, the case against Jinx growing stronger by the day. But no Walters mystery is predictable, filled with surprises until the end, Jinx suddenly comprehending that she knows the killer very well indeed. Luan Gaines/ 2008.

A fun story, with tragedy, miracles, redemption, and romance, seen through the eyes of an older teenage boy (Monroe Anderson), who has a self-acknowledged sardonic side. It's about the story, not the characters (besides Monroe) or the ending. If you enjoy seeing the world through the eyes of an insightful, courageous and sardonic teen age boy this book will be for you. If you like to see institutional Christianity mildly (and justifiably) lampooned you will also enjoy it. If you believe in miracles but don't need religious explanations you will enjoy this book. If you like character development and well crafted and satisfying endings, you may wish to look elsewhere for reading material. It's a book that makes us think about our past as teens and our present as parents. We don't need to be so far removed from that past when miracles were a matter of course, and not a matter of religion.

A lot of people picked this book up thinking it's a Christian novel, but they will be shocked right away. There is a lot of cussing in this book, explicit sexual content, disturbing violence, and some offensive subject matter. If you're easily offended, don't pick up this book.

With that said, it was amazing. Monroe is a crazy kid who some people thought wasn't real enough. But I saw many of my friends, young and old, as well as myself in Monroe. He might have been very different, but he had parts of him that everyone could relate to.

I loved this book so much, I memorized my favorite line from the book, or from any book for that matter. It's when Monroe quotes his mother, saying "They say 'dance like nobody is watching.' But the thing to remember is this; They are watching, and you can bet they wish they were dancing too."

This is a great premier novel from Brian Strause, and I can't wait for his next one.

I see many mixed opinions in the reviews already posted here, but I must say I thought Maybe a Miracle was a very enjoyable read. I found Monroe to be a delightful narrator, his comments either making me laugh out loud or causing me to stop and think about things that I normally wouldn't consider. There is A LOT to think about in a novel of this nature, and it's not all about "the big picture" or what appears just on the surface. I found it to be an incredibly thoughtful journey, with a dose of humor, a humor that was necessary if you were to be able to look past the fact that the book was centered around a very sad and troubling situation.

Monroe was always likable to me, and I do think he grew up during the course of the novel. He made a good narrator because he was an 18-year-old boy (in the beginning) and commented upon things that happened to him in life in a way that I think was quite typical of being that age. He was sarcastic. He was confused. He was unique, and like anyone, he had both good and bad traits. The story was told through his point of view, so in honesty, it's more his story than Annika's, although of course the great majority reflects what happens around her.

The author's use of baseball and references to the game made me like the story even more; baseball, a simple game, is a very good drawing point for this book and provided a side character with what turned out to be a very important role.

That being said, I didn't love every single aspect of this book. Some of the obvious blood/sickness references always made me queasy, but that's typical for me in general. I also think I would have ended the novel before the epilogue, as maybe it didn't achieve for me what I assume the author wanted it to. But I still wouldn't change the book.

Overall, it was a really satisfying read. It was quick, it was honest, and it painted a interesting story that without the humor and unique perspective I would have had no desire to read. Maybe a Miracle is a well written book, one that I'd gladly read again in the future, even if only to further contemplate why we (as humans) do what we do sometimes. This novel provided a lot of those types of questions, especially in dealing with the subject matter that it did.

As for the comparisons to The Catcher in the Rye, I think the comparisons stop and end with the fact there is an older brother and a younger sister, the younger sister with wisdom beyond her years and the older brother who makes some mistakes in his life and is not sure where he's going, but who loves his sister very much. Monroe Anderson is a great character, but of course he's not Holden Caulfield. I don't think anyone is asking him to be.

I wanted to give this debut novel a 4 star and it almost was but not quite. This novel had moments where it was brilliant but just at that moment Strause would take the storyline too far and go over the top and lose me completely. The storyline is ingenous but the metaphysical parts are just way too much. Usually I love metaphysical but I just could not relate to it in this novel.

It's about a semi-ordinary family who lives in the suburbs of Ohio. The dad is a lawyer; mom raises children and runs the house; older brother is a golf champion and everyone is so proud; middle-child Monroe (the protagonist) is a lonely teenager trying to keep out of the way; and baby sister, Annika, is the love of all their lives. A tragedy occurs which changes all their lives forever.

Annika is in a coma and this causes everyone to act differently (not so unusual) except that it appears things are being caused to happen by Annika while she is in a coma, i.e., Jesus's face pops up everywhere; rose petals rain down from the sky; and to top it all off she bleeds from her hands (rather cliche). I found all of this just a bit much. Needless to say, she becomes an icon to thousands, maybe millions, around the world and her mother encourages this. As a mom and middle-aged woman I found the mother the most repulsive, after the accident, of them all.

Did I mention on top of all this drama he throws in a rape and a murder? It's like a grown-up version of A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS except this book is not funny. I definitely think Strause has a lot of potential but for me this book was not quite there yet. I intend to read his next book though as I am sure he will have worked out the kinks by then.

I am an avid reader and I really enjoyed this book. Lately the books I've read have been quite boring and predictable. The characters in this book are real and even to the end, I wasn't sure what would happen. I think that's one of the best parts of the book, it pulled here and there, with the reader never sure what would happen next.