Over three decades ago, a young girl named Sarah had a seizure and emerged from the hospital having mapped out a path for herself as a neuroscientist.
On the eve of 31 December 2002, a young woman named Sarah with a brain aneurysm shut down the ED at Monash Medical Centre after having driven into a car power pole metres from home. The impact of the crash relieved the pressure and saved her from a fatal sub-arachnoid haemorrhage altogether making me think of something out of a movie or a work of fiction. Which is why the author’s account is all the more incredible to read: it’s no work of fantasy nor a careless product of an imagination run wild.
The novel is divided into parts with each part dealing with two years or so at a time following the aftermath of Brooker’s accident and in chronological order.
I originally thought it was going to be a ‘humble brag’ story of a young woman who attained a Bachelor of Neuroscience (Honors) against all odds and went on to become a successful neuroscientist. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected focus on the aftermath of Brooker’s accident and her unfiltered accounts, complete with written communication samples collected during the recovery years, of how the accident divided her life into two completely different existences or even two completely separate beings.
I’d like to give this book five stars yet I don’t quite feel comfortable doing so on several counts. First of all, I’m in awe of how Brooker survived the accident and has gone on to build a life for herself that’s about love, passion, exploration, discovery, learning and embracing herself as a person; yet at times, I found her pre-accident person to be very self absorbed, condescending and even narcissistic altogether making it harder to relate to her. As much as I enjoyed reading her twin sister, Abi’s, accounts, I found the limited information about her family made it hard for me as the reader to relate to them (even if I most definitely sympathised with them thinking about the hell they were going through in the wake of the accident) as people. For me to be fully immersed in a novel, whether fiction or factual, I need to be introduced to more compelling and relatable characters.Show moreShow less
On the eve of 31 December 2002, a young woman named Sarah with a brain aneurysm shut down the ED at Monash Medical Centre after having driven into a car power pole metres from home. The impact of the crash relieved the pressure and saved her from a fatal sub-arachnoid haemorrhage altogether making me think of something out of a movie or a work of fiction. Which is why the author’s account is all the more incredible to read: it’s no work of fantasy nor a careless product of an imagination run wild.
The novel is divided into parts with each part dealing with two years or so at a time following the aftermath of Brooker’s accident and in chronological order.
I originally thought it was going to be a ‘humble brag’ story of a young woman who attained a Bachelor of Neuroscience (Honors) against all odds and went on to become a successful neuroscientist. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected focus on the aftermath of Brooker’s accident and her unfiltered accounts, complete with written communication samples collected during the recovery years, of how the accident divided her life into two completely different existences or even two completely separate beings.
I’d like to give this book five stars yet I don’t quite feel comfortable doing so on several counts. First of all, I’m in awe of how Brooker survived the accident and has gone on to build a life for herself that’s about love, passion, exploration, discovery, learning and embracing herself as a person; yet at times, I found her pre-accident person to be very self absorbed, condescending and even narcissistic altogether making it harder to relate to her. As much as I enjoyed reading her twin sister, Abi’s, accounts, I found the limited information about her family made it hard for me as the reader to relate to them (even if I most definitely sympathised with them thinking about the hell they were going through in the wake of the accident) as people. For me to be fully immersed in a novel, whether fiction or factual, I need to be introduced to more compelling and relatable characters. Show more Show less