A review by liralen
Where Is the Mango Princess?: A Journey Back from Brain Injury by Cathy Crimmins
3.0
Interesting, and doubly so for the sense of limbo that prevails. The book was published in 2000, but much of it was written earlier, when her husband was just three or so years out and still adjusting -- so it's hard to know how much more he improved, or has improved, since then, or what lasting effects it had on the people around him.
The author died in 2009 following complications from surgery, but some quick poking on the internet leads me to believe that -- perhaps not surprising, but a reminder that the end of the book was hardly the end of the story.
In as much as this is a book structured around recovery from traumatic brain injury, the content is not so much about that recovery as it is about dealing with it as a caretaker -- it's hard to know how much Alan has changed without being there or seeing more pre-accident scenes, but we can see how hard it is on everyone around him. (How hard for Kelly, in particular -- old enough to be in the fray of it; young enough to have very few defenses and recourses.)
The author died in 2009 following complications from surgery, but some quick poking on the internet leads me to believe that
Spoiler
she and her husband divorced at some point in the nine years following the book's publicationIn as much as this is a book structured around recovery from traumatic brain injury, the content is not so much about that recovery as it is about dealing with it as a caretaker -- it's hard to know how much Alan has changed without being there or seeing more pre-accident scenes, but we can see how hard it is on everyone around him. (How hard for Kelly, in particular -- old enough to be in the fray of it; young enough to have very few defenses and recourses.)