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Summary: Unique Format & A Great Book
Review: A wonderful book about an AMAZING FAMILY. The book does not preach or teach about disabilities. It is not about what she can not do. It is a book about what you CAN do. In my opinion, this is the story of one family and their quest to take care of one another and do right by their family and each other. I love the format of the book. Brooke & Jean take turns writing about similiar events that they encountered during this ten year time frame. (Very hard to get too in-depth and too detailed when writing about such a large time frame.) I have read this book to my 6th grade students (a great example of point of view and perspective since two authors are writing about the same experiences.) A great book for mothers to buy for their daughters or vice versa. (And as always, the book is much better than the movie.) I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: Garry Hixon, Mirror Vision Inc.-hello brooke
Review: Dear Brooke, I thought your book was wonderful, I cried. I also thought that your movie, the brooke ellison story, was very cool. I recently joined the Christopher and Dana Reeve foundation, 12 days before Chris passed, isnt that weird? I was trying to get him a mirror vision, mirror screens on computers and TV's and walk in movie screens, so when he died, I was very upset that I had just sent him a message, when your movie aired, it gave me inspiration. Your movie was very special as I'm sure you are, your mother is an amazing woman, my mom probably would not have been able to care for me, if that happened to me. I just received a letter from Dana Reeve, saying thank you for my note, and she was taking over the foundation, I wish I could build you a mirror vision for your TV and computer, it is the first real surround vision and is done with straight mirrors, not the typical shoddy curved surround vision. I feel very honored to review your book, and I hope to meet you someday as we are in similar helping positions. Goodbye Brooke, nice to meet you, love garry
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Summary: HIGHLY INSPIRATIONAL
Review: For anyone who believes the idea of completing an education requires an enormous amount of hard work and perseverance, wait until you read about Brooke Ellison and her mother, Jean. Following a car accident at age eleven which left Brooke paralized from the neck down, Jean was determined that her daughter would not simply exist on the sidelines but that she would, indeed, have a productive and fulfilling life. Jean's encouragement, love and determination held Brooke steadfast each and every step of the way, until ten years later Brooke graduated from Harvard University, making her the first quadriplegic to do so. The book alternates in chapters between Brooke's recollections and those of her mother. What intrigued me the most about the book was the overwhelming and, at times, almost insurmountable odds that Brooke and her mother had to overcome. By the time the last page was reached, I was ready to give a standing ovation for Brooke's accomplishments as she gives her graduation speech. The book is so beautifully written, it will leave the reader with a tear in their eye, and make whatever obstacles they feel they most overcome to achieve their goals, very insignificant compared to Brooke's trials and tribulations. This is an amazingly inspiring story which is due to be released as a television movie.
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Summary: If sharing this story helps just one person!
Review: I find it disgusting that people are choosing to use this forum as a chat room. This space is designed to share opinions on products... to help someone choose how to spend a buck or two. People really need to just stop. You should know that I am a disabled American and thank God that stories like this exist. Sure, for the vast majority of severly disabled people the realities of life do not afford them the opportunities that Brooke Ellison had... But who cares? If in sharing her story it empowers just one disabled person to try harder or to push harder to be more then the book is a success. The book can also succeed if perhaps it motivates able-bodied people respect their opportunites more! God Bless the Ellison's for what they were able to acheive! May they capitalize on any level of the attention they can... they earned it!
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Summary: Inspiring, But Somtimes A Bit Corny and Impersonal
Review: I found Brooke's story inspiring, but found it lacked detailed descriptions about what it is really like to live as a quadriplegic on a day-to-day basis. For example, she does not describe exactly how far down her body she has sensations; she talks about being in a wheelchair, but never describes learning to move the wheelchair with breath control, and what her typical day is like. She states she was in rehabilitation for 8 months, and that it was hard, but gives not a single description of what that rehabilitation actually consisted of. She talks about the three-hour ordeal of just getting ready in the morning but does not describe it much. She talks about her mother tending to her medical needs, but doesn't describe them. I know it sounds like I want more "gore," but really, one of the reasons you buy a book like this is to try to understand on a deep level what it is like to be in someone else's shoes, and I didn't get that feeling from this book. It gives a really surface description of an "inspiring" story, but I never really got to know who Brooke is from reading it. It does not even say how in the world this family of limited means afforded Harvard, and all the medical care. Parts of the book seem cliche. With that having been said, one cannot help but admire Brooke for her optimism and perseverence; and especially her Mom, who not only went with Brooke to all of her junior high school and high school classes; but also went with her for 4 years to Harvard, leaving her husband and other 2 kids in New York. [Parenthetically, I wondered why in the world Medicaid or Social Security did not pay for nursing care to give her Mom a break, especially since Brooke's dad worked for Social Security for over 20 years and should have been able to find his way through the system!] I would recommend this book for its inspiring story and tale of an amazing family, but if you like this sort of book, I would more strongly recommend, "Tales from the Bed," by Jenifer Estess [who died of ALS, Lou Gherig's disease] and "Autobiography of a Face," by the late Lucy Grealy, a detailed account of childhood cancer and the resulting disfigurement. Both are beautifully written, and much less sappy than this book.
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Summary: not sure about this one
Review: I just saw the movie that was based on this book last night. If the book is anything like the movie, I wouldn't buy it.
ETA: Contrary to "popular belief", her life was hardly inspirational. I find it "uninspirational" to take advantage of being hit by a car, something that IS totally preventable.
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Summary: The Brooke Ellison Story - a wonderful book!!
Review: I like the reviewer "Martina" found the book inspiring yet also believed that it could have provided more depth to the
day to day experience of what it is to be a quadripalegic. Mrs. Ellison only gives the readers a glimpse of this experience when she talks about how Brooke has to be suctioned each day and turned to avoid bedsores. Maybe like "Martina" I'm gross for wanting to read about such information, but I as well like to take away new information and understanding from the subjects I read about. I would still recommend this book and the movie as both are inspiring and a true testament of how with great desire a person can achieve their dreams.
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Summary: Selfish Fairy Tale
Review: It's a tragic story but very misleading. Jean (the mother) has given up her life for her daughter. How many people would or should do that ? How selfish to go far away to Harvard instead of a local school in these circumstances. Her mother deserves to live a life too. Her brother and sister deserve their mother around. Her father deserves his wife around.
As for getting money from the book and the movie - good for them ! They need every cent. Maybe now they can start the sequel and this time show the world how it really is for most of these patients. Maybe even bring up the importance of stem cell research. The only difference between us and Brooke is two seconds of bad luck.
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Summary: A Book is Only What it IS, Not What it IS NOT
Review: Once again the famous more-or-less-anonymous 'Reviewer From Katonah' strikes. This time he/she reminds us that Brooke Ellison is a 'public figure' and therefore was somehow not entitled to write her own life story, but rather had an obligation to write a book about disability rights. This is truly at the level of the absurd. Would we dream of requiring African Americans, Gays and Lesbians, Hispanics, and Vietnamese boat people who write about overcoming adversity to forever tailor their prose to the needs of political movements? Let's take one point the reviewer makes, about Harvard. Brooke and Jean Ellison praise Harvard for the way Brooke was treated there. The 'Reviewer from Katonah' says, in effect, 'fooey, it was Harvard's obligation under the law.' Now that's an interesting point to consider, and in a more balanced review we might have all stopped to think about it. But the 'Reviewer From Katonah' is so unfair to the Ellisons and so absorbed with his/her own agenda, that the very movement he/she purports to represent is discredited in the process. The Ellisons have written a powerful and moving book about the life of a human being, and about families. It should be treasured for that.
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Summary: Update to prior review
Review: Since writing a less than glowing review [below], I have had time to think and reflect on this book, and am upgrading my review to 5 stars. I initially thought the book too sappy, but I kept thinking about it, and coming back to read passages of it, and that's the sign of a great book. I also saw Brooke on Larry King, and she was amazingly articulate, compassionate, smart and beautiful. It was not just that she was "inspirational" for all she had gone through: she was also incredibly intelligent [not surprising, given her Harvard education], and is using her enegies to do great things. She spoke about her experiences in such a thoughtful way. I have since done some research and found articles Brooke has written on a web site dealing with disabilities. I have read, and promptly forgotten, a lot of mediocre books, but this is one I'll remember, so change my review to a wholehearted recommedation.
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