Book Tour | Book Chatter

When She Flew
By Jennie Shortridge
Penguin Group (USA)
November 2009
352pp

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

Police officer Jessica Villareal has always played by the book and tried to do the right thing. But now, she finds herself approaching midlife divorced, estranged from her daughter, alone, and unhappy. And she’s wondering if she ever made a right choice in her life.

But then Jess discovers a girl and her father living off the radar in the Oregon woods, avoiding the comforts-and curses-of modern life. Her colleagues on the force are determined to uproot and separate them, but Jess knows the damage of losing those you love. She recognizes her chance to make a difference by doing something she’s never dared. Because even though she’s used to playing by the rules, there are times when they need to be broken…

The Short of It:

When She Flew is a gem of a little book. This story gently unfolds into a beautiful thing.

The Rest of It:

This is one of those stories that flows effortlessly. From the moment I picked it up, I knew it was going to be one of those books. As I was reading about Jessica and her relationship with her own daughter, I was struck with how realistically her life was drawn. The life of a cop, a female cop no less…the need to maintain a game face at all times, the pressure to hold it all together, it all rings true. Women struggle to be everything, to everyone and sometimes fail in the process. Jess isn’t perfect, and we see her flaws but she is an easy character to relate to. I appreciated the fact that Jess was strong, but flawed. It made her more human.

As she deals with Ray and Lindy, the ‘forest people’ trying desperately to make a life of their own on what little they have, we see what happens when oil and water meet. Jess has ideas of what a good parent is and she berates herself daily, over the mistakes she has made with her own daughter. However, when she sees the fierce love that Ray has for Lindy, she begins to realize that there may be more than one way to be a good parent. That providing the basics such as food and shelter is just a part of what being a parent is.

The story is told with alternating points of view, one of which being Lindy’s. Lindy is a delicate bird. At the age of thirteen, she is becoming a young lady and has learned to appreciate all she has. Taken from an abusive mother, her father sheltered her from society, yet raised her to be self-sufficient, to live off the land. She is educated and wiser than her years but she is anything but fragile. Like a bird, she is ready to take flight but possesses a sensibility that most young girls do not possess at this age.

Ray, Lindy’s father, is an Iraq war vet battling post-traumatic stress. He lives on a very small income and creates a sanctuary for Lindy out in the middle of the forest. Shortridge takes great care with Ray. As a reader, you cannot judge Ray. He’s troubled but makes the best decisions he can for the sake of his daughter. I was touched by his tenderness.

While I was reading the book, there was a small part of me expecting a very pat ending. I am happy to report that this is not the case. Shortridge crafts a beautiful story with well-developed characters. When I finished reading it, I felt the weight of it, and lingered in its warmth for a bit.

If you’d like to read more about Jennie Shortridge, click here to visit her website, and click here for an interview and some discussion questions.

To purchase the book, visit Amazon or an independent bookseller of your choice.

Check out the rest of Jennie’s tour stops here.

Source: A big ‘thank you’ to TLC Book Tours for asking me to be a part of this tour and for providing me with a review copy of the book.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

Jennie Shortridge has provided me with one SIGNED copy to give away to a lucky reader. This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada. There are two ways to enter. Please follow the instructions carefully because I want every entry to count!

1. Comment on this review for ONE entry. Include an email address so that I have a way to contact you.

2. For another entry, Tweet about this giveaway and be sure to include @TiBookChatter. After you Tweet, post a separate comment here telling me you did so. If you do not post a second comment, then it won’t count. Sorry!

This giveaway will run through Sunday, January 3, 2010 (8pm Pacific). The winner will be selected randomly and announced on Wednesday, January 6, 2010. I will contact the winner for his/her mailing address so be sure to include a way for me to contact you.

Good luck!

Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD
By Beth Alison Maloney
Crown Publishing Group
September 2009
272pp

Here’s the blurb from the publisher:

The summer before entering sixth grade, Sammy, a bright and charming boy who lived on the coast of Maine, suddenly began to exhibit disturbing behavior. He walked and ate with his eyes shut, refused to bathe, burst into fits of rage, slithered against walls, and used his limbs instead of his hands to touch light switches, doorknobs, and faucets.

Sammy’s mother, Beth, already coping with the overwhelming responsibility of raising three sons alone, watched helplessly as her middle child descended into madness. Sammy was soon diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and later with Tourette syndrome. Unwilling to accept the doctors’ prognoses for lifelong mental illness and repeated hospitalizations, Beth fought to uncover what was causing this decline. Racing against time as Sammy slipped further from reality, Beth’s quest took her to the center of the medical community’s raging debate about whether mental illness can be caused by infection. With the battle lines firmly drawn, Beth searched until she found two cutting-edge doctors who answered that question with a definitive yes. Together, they cured Sammy. Five years later, he remains symptom free.

The Short of It:

A startling look at one family’s experience with obsessive-compulsive disorder and how a mother’s unwavering quest for a cure slowly brings about change within the medical community. Touching and well-told. This is a story with a purpose.

The Rest of It:

I picked this book up, read about ten pages and then could not put it down. I finished it in just a few sittings. Anyone with a child can relate to the difficulties of dealing with a sick kid. There is nothing worse than seeing your son or daughter struggle through an illness, be it flu or something more serious. In this case though, Sammy is struck with obsessive-compulsive disorder and it hits him out of blue. One day he is well, and the next day he isn’t. It’s starts with little quirks. Sammy’s need to touch a wall as he passes, or his need to enter a room a certain way. His mother, Beth, chalks it up to being a kid. Sometimes kids do weird things. As time passes though, his need to do things a certain way become compulsions which take several hours to complete. Simple activities such as going to school because extremely complicated when it takes over two hours just to get him dressed and out the door.

After taking Sammy to psychiatrist with no success, Beth discovers through research and a conversation with a friend, that Strep is sometimes related to OCD. This prompts additional testing and an elevated strep titer is discovered which leads to a diagnosis of PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal). However, since the condition is fairly new, many of the doctors that Beth encounter, do not want to treat it as such even though Sammy seems to improve dramatically when the strep is treated.

This book was a bit of an eye opener for me. I was diagnosed with an auto-immune disorder a few years ago and the doctors at the time believed it to be caused by strep as I had an undiagnosed strep infection and the symptoms of the auto-immune disorder came on suddenly, nearly overnight. However, I didn’t believe that to be the cause and although I was treated for a common strep infection and went through one round of antibiotics, my symptoms did not improve and they began to treat me for Lupus. Over the course of a year I have been treated off and on for strep as I have had three strep infections and no symptoms of strep, silent strep is what they call it. I’ve also been treated for Lupus though and now I seem to have a handle on it, but was strep really the cause? After reading Beth’s book, I tend to think it may have played a role in it.

What impressed me with this book is that no matter how dire the situation, Beth remained positive. Sure, she had doubts but she displayed incredible patience with not only Sammy but her other children as well. Her entire household was turned upside down by this and her willingness to put it all on the line for the sake of getting Sammy well really struck a chord with me.

What stuck out a bit for me was the lack of a father figure in most of Beth’s story. Sammy’s father does come into the picture towards the end of the book but with all that was going on, and with all that Beth had to endure, I kept waiting for the Sammy’s dad to make an appearance. They are divorced at the beginning of the story but with Sammy’s condition being so severe, I expected a bit more involvement from the dad.

Overall, I feel that this is a valuable story for anyone that is dealing with a sick child, even if their child’s illness is not OCD. The perseverance that Beth displayed and the textbook comments from most of these doctors really make you question Western medicine as a whole.