acinthedc's review against another edition
4.0
A heart wrenching story of loss and the challenges of coping when life truly gives you more than you can handle. Bridget has flitted through a short marriage and bouncing between her divorced parents before she decides she needs a change and find herself tutoring a child in Portugal. There she meets Pierce and her life seems complete when they have a daughter. When her little family is uprooted to Minnesota, things quickly turn sideways as in short succession, Bridget has her second child, her cousin and father die, and her first child is diagnosed with autism. Her husband is also diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he becomes manic while at work. As Bridget tries to balance her husband's mental health, her daughter's increasingly unmanageable behavior, and providing a semblance of normalcy for her other child, she begins to lose herself in the struggle. A realistic accounting of the love and hardships of having a spouse with a mental health condition and a child with severe autism. Overall, 3.5 out of 5
laurla's review against another edition
my friend katy borrowed it to me. its about a lady who finds out her daughter has autism, and her husband is bipolar. made me cry a little. couple lines in the book really got me.
"most people don't have to face these decision and take care of the enormous responsibilities that you have. most people have to worry about what television show to watch. so don't be comparing yourself to what other people are doing or not doing. you're doing you, and you're doing it right."
"do you want to know what it feels lie to want to die every day? or am i too morbid for you? hell, i'm too morbid for me. but here i am; and here you are finding out about it. this is what it feels like when you want to die every day: it feels like slipping into a pair of shoes that are filled with mud that lead you to a track that makes you walk in a circle as if you were following a carrot on a stick, but whats the carrot and why do i feel that i am forever in a chenille robe that is fraying every single day while i shuffle around and around in the same old pit of yellowing newspapers, yellowing fingernails, yellowing window blinds, yellowing teeth decaying me. it it a sinking so slow that you want someone to come and push you all the way , let you glide down the hill 'til you're just gone. that's all. i just want to be completely gone."
describing being in a mental hospital: "we empty everything: our pockets, our purses, our suitcases, our souls, our stomachs, our words. empty empty empty. a hokey-pokey of the mind: shake it all abut, turn yourself around, thats what its all about."
"what i didn't know is that i would be skating and wobbling on ice every day. everything is slippery."
"most people don't have to face these decision and take care of the enormous responsibilities that you have. most people have to worry about what television show to watch. so don't be comparing yourself to what other people are doing or not doing. you're doing you, and you're doing it right."
"do you want to know what it feels lie to want to die every day? or am i too morbid for you? hell, i'm too morbid for me. but here i am; and here you are finding out about it. this is what it feels like when you want to die every day: it feels like slipping into a pair of shoes that are filled with mud that lead you to a track that makes you walk in a circle as if you were following a carrot on a stick, but whats the carrot and why do i feel that i am forever in a chenille robe that is fraying every single day while i shuffle around and around in the same old pit of yellowing newspapers, yellowing fingernails, yellowing window blinds, yellowing teeth decaying me. it it a sinking so slow that you want someone to come and push you all the way , let you glide down the hill 'til you're just gone. that's all. i just want to be completely gone."
describing being in a mental hospital: "we empty everything: our pockets, our purses, our suitcases, our souls, our stomachs, our words. empty empty empty. a hokey-pokey of the mind: shake it all abut, turn yourself around, thats what its all about."
"what i didn't know is that i would be skating and wobbling on ice every day. everything is slippery."
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