Perfectly Normal: A Mother's Memoir

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book about a good friend
Review: I loved this book! I have "hydro," as so many of us call it, and Daryl, Marcie's son, is a friend of mine. He is only slightly older, and although he has been through a lot more than I have, I think this book would be encouraging and uplifting to anyone, especially a parent facing a diagnosis of hydro in a child.

I was touched by this book in two ways. Besides having hydro, I have a son with autism and Chiari malformation (herniated cerebellum), and I identified with a lot of Marcie's frustration with parents of "normal" kids who just don't get how we feel when they complain of things like runny noses and ear infections after we have been through serious health situations with our kids. She writes candidly and sometimes brutally honestly about it.

I said four stars because, although I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone who needs encouragement when facing a situation like this, she is oftentimes a bit too open about certain aspects of her life that have nothing to do with Daryl's hydro...and the language can be shocking to someone who isn't expecting it. If you can handle that, I know you'll benefit from this honest, compassionate story.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book about a good friend
Review: I loved this book! I have "hydro," as so many of us call it, and Daryl, Marcie's son, is a friend of mine. He is only slightly older, and although he has been through a lot more than I have, I think this book would be encouraging and uplifting to anyone, especially a parent facing a diagnosis of hydro in a child.

I was touched by this book in two ways. Besides having hydro, I have a son with autism and Chiari malformation (herniated cerebellum), and I identified with a lot of Marcie's frustration with parents of "normal" kids who just don't get how we feel when they complain of things like runny noses and ear infections after we have been through serious health situations with our kids. She writes candidly and sometimes brutally honestly about it.

I said four stars because, although I loved the book and would recommend it to anyone who needs encouragement when facing a situation like this, she is oftentimes a bit too open about certain aspects of her life that have nothing to do with Daryl's hydro...and the language can be shocking to someone who isn't expecting it. If you can handle that, I know you'll benefit from this honest, compassionate story.

Rating:
Summary: Glad to have found this...
Review: She absolutely nailed the most painful themes associated with having a child with hydrocephalus (or similar conditions) from a MOTHER'S perspective.

Although I had a difficult time relating to the marital issues and women's liberation struggles specific to this author (she was only 19 when she had her son in 1965) I found the central themes associated with mothering an ill child to be very powerful.

The author articulates the pain, frustration, anger and other raw emotion only a mother faced with such circumstances can know. I'm going to ask my husband and my own mother to read it next.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic and Marvelous
Review: Sheiner's memoir of dealing with her child's disability is beyond inspirational. For those who have grown tired of memoirs that sugar-coat the realities of how children with disabilities, and especially their parents, are treated within the medical community, this is a realistic account. Sheiner shares raw reality--this is quality writing.