Rating: 
Summary: Another Quad Wife Speaks
Review: As the wife of a quadriplegic I was very interested to see what Susan Parker had to say about her life. The description of the devastation, hopelessness and helplessness women feel when they come into this situation was excellent. The potrayal of the feeling of being totally overwhelmed and burned out by the intensity of it all was very real to me.This is where the excellence of the book ended. It was extremely redundant, telling almost the same story over and over with a slightly different twist. I was quickly bored. It was obvious that it was a collection of short antecdotes written for her newspaper column and not a cohesive book. I was determined to finish it and was only able to tough it out to the end because of the perseverence I've learned from being a Quad Wife. It was appalling to read that her husband is kept a virtual prisoner in the living room of the house they live in. No adaptations have been made since 1994 to make the rest of the home accessible to him? He has a life of watching TV? What is that all about? I am also wondering why a woman who says she is intelligent did not seek out the available programs which provide excellent, in home assistance to people with disabilities. Had she taken advantage of such programs, both she and her husband would have much improved lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Susan, keep up the good work please.
Review: I am sorry it took me so long to discover this book. I have been a fan of Ms. Parker since I first began reading her columns in the SF Chronicle. This book is one of those you want to read slowly so that it lasts longer but find you can't put it down. Susan has a wonderful knack for untainted honesty as she reports on the universal joys and sorrows of human life. She guides the reader into her world without trying to assign blame or seek justification, a truly refreshing approach in this day and age. Can't wait for the sequel! -Cindy
Rating:
Summary: Tumbling After
Review: I cried, I laughed, I sighed and then I laughed and cried again. I picked this book up and could not put it down. I thought the book gut wrenching. A literary friend of mine to whom I sent the book said "What a wonderful book you sent me, what a searing story." Susan Parker has written a wonderful book of life and dreams gone astray and picking up the pieces after.
Rating:
Summary: Worldview Changing and Hilarious
Review: I picked this book up with about 15 others from the new non-fiction section at my library in preparation vacation reading. I got through my entire selection, but this is the one book that, in a truly meaningful way, became part of my consciousness. I then had the opportunity to choose a book for my bookclub, and it was a no-brainer: Tumbling After. I think the book just speaks to a place in one's heart. Although at times I wanted to shake Suzy Parker, there was never a time in the book where I couldn't relate in some way to her. Since none of us know what lies ahead in life, we can all imagine ourselves in Suzy Parker's shoes, and I would hope that I would handle any situation of the same magnitude with similar grace, honesty, and humanity. When white, middle class Suzy finds herself in the position of forming a "new family" with folks whose background and lifestyle were formerly not even on her radar, it proves beyond doubt that "love is thicker than blood". She faces up to her biases very bravely, and finds true friendship and camraderie. Lastly, but just as importantly, I laughed hysterically throughout, which was hard to explain to family members who inquired of the subject matter of such an apparently funny book (quadraplegia? - huh?). But I just loved Suzy Parker's soul.
Rating:
Summary: The Real Deal
Review: I saw Suzy Parker at a book reading in Seattle and she said, "One thing you learn being in the disabled community is that there is always someone worse off than you." And she shows us some of these people--with a clear eye and a sense of humor. What I really love about her story is its truth. There is no self-pity. Even when she says "this [stinks], I wonder if I can make," she just plows ahead.
The story is accessible and never maudlin even when it is grim. And there is plenty of humor and adventure to pull the reader through the tight little chapters.
This story is the real deal--a great read, a compelling story, and a few lessons along the way.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating.
Review: I was totally captivated by this book, which will stay with me. Susan's Parker life was turned upside down when her husband had a bad accident which paralyzed him from the shoulders down. This book is vignettes of her life since. Her writing reminds me of funny adventure travel writers like Tim Cahill, Pico Iyer, Bill Bryson and Doug Lansky. Her journey is not to a foreign land, but her life with a quadraplegic in Oakland, might as well be. Her description of how she built and found a new life is captivating, funny and moving.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Story-Great Storyteller
Review: Susan Parker's memoir of her husband, Ralph's accident and it's aftermath is the best thing I've read this year. It's funny, sad, shocking, and completly compelling. This is a book I couldn't put down and continue to think about. I want to know more about these people!
Rating:
Summary: Tumbling Ahead...and Uphill
Review: The cover of Susan Park's "Tumbling After"calls it a memoir and, of course, it is. But much more, it's a love story, a unique story that couldn't have happened in any other environment, among a different kind of people, nor would it have been written by any one else. It is a story of personal growth, the erasing of prejudice, a new portrait of neighborhood, family and the meaning of love in all its forms and all its unexpected sources. As well as the many shapes of heroism that develop as disaster is taken in stride. Suzy writes with the brevity of a practiced columnist, but this is not a collection of her newspaper columns. The language, the sexuality, the emotion is candid, honest and unrestrained. It's an account of what is, and what is is there to be embraced. Suzy's athletic husband Ralph becomes a quadriplegic in a bike accident. His every need requires help, day and night. There is no hope for recovery, but his life is not hopeless. The reader gets the sense that something good is going to happen even though it's clear that Ralph's physical condition wont change. There is no lecture, no attempt to show bravery, no lesson consciously taught. Yet the reader feels as though he or she is a better person for having read Tumbling After. Once into this book, you may promise yourself to read just one more "column," before putting it down. Then just one more and just one more, page, until you get to the end. Each brief "story" leads to the next until the last. I couldn't wait to get to the end, and then I was sorry this rare reading experience was over. Heartily recommended to anyone who thinks that life is tough. - - - -
Rating:
Summary: Life goes on.
Review: Told with deadpan humor, Suzy Parker relates the story of her life after her husband's near-fatal bike accident. While it is Ralph's accident that is the catalyst for the change in their lives, this is the story of Susan Parker. After the accident, the plans for an athletic retirement are replaced with endless trips to doctors, pharmacies, and the never-ending routine of caring for a quadriplegic. Many of their old friends offer advice but not much else, other fade away entirely. As the family being to sink into despair, new friends and associates come to help her adjust to the new lifestyle. Susan freely admits that many of these people are not the type of people she has ever known much about before nor would she have ever chosen to associate with had she not left the privileged world of the white upper-classes. I found this book to be full of funny anecdotes that were well told. Ms. Parker tells her story with as much humor as possible and a great deal of candor. It is a quick read and well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Life goes on.
Review: Told with deadpan humor, Suzy Parker relates the story of her life after her husband's near-fatal bike accident. While it is Ralph's accident that is the catalyst for the change in their lives, this is the story of Susan Parker. After the accident, the plans for an athletic retirement are replaced with endless trips to doctors, pharmacies, and the never-ending routine of caring for a quadriplegic. Many of their old friends offer advice but not much else, other fade away entirely. As the family being to sink into despair, new friends and associates come to help her adjust to the new lifestyle. Susan freely admits that many of these people are not the type of people she has ever known much about before nor would she have ever chosen to associate with had she not left the privileged world of the white upper-classes. I found this book to be full of funny anecdotes that were well told. Ms. Parker tells her story with as much humor as possible and a great deal of candor. It is a quick read and well worth your time.
| 
