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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
Amazing story of a very, very, very near-death experience. It takes you deep into the recovery process of experiencing various sensory losses in detail.
Me finding this book was so random ... my son (not really a reader but trying) saw a book-tok about "The Hike" by this author. Unfortunately, it wasn't available in audio from our library, but another of his books, "The Postmortal" was. We both liked it. As I'd looked at the author's other works, this one caught me eye. Why? Because twice now, I've had a sudden loss of consciousness (determined to be a seizure in my case), falling, hitting my head, blood/ambulance/stitches. Lucky for me, I did not have a brain bleed either time and recovered quickly with no real after-effects ... but there was enough of a similarity to draw me in (and I was attempting a non-fiction November reading challenge, I'm usually a fiction gal!)
I did really like this. I have to wonder how broad the appeal is to everyone though ... would I have been interested in a story about a guy I didn't know about an incident that might not affect me? I was surprised though, at how much beyond the initial similarity, that I felt a connection. Everyone has had to deal with insurance (well, in the US ... I do think I'd like universal healthcare), some of the talk about hearing loss was interesting, as Hubs suffers from Meniers, so different causes, but still some personal connections. So many can connect over the loss of taste and smell after Covid hit.
The writing itself was very conversational - I found quite a bit of humor and laughed out loud a few times. I was listening to the audio edition, which I think I'd recommend over reading (I did grab the kindle copy too, as I try to do with all my audiobooks. Luckily my library had both available). One of the top reviews (I glanced over them before starting my own) didn't care for the numerous "witness" reports ... I actually liked it a lot in audio. They switched out with a number of different narrators (the author narrates the majority of the book, the other voices are professional narrators representing the others). It went really quickly, felt like an interview, in a room talking. Similar presentation to [book:The 9/11 Papers: An Oral History Of The Terror Attacks : Delving into the history, reports, effects, conspiracy and what 9/11 revealed about America|62672530] and another recent listen [book:As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride|21412202] - on both of those I expected to recognize some of the voices (most of the latter WERE voiced by the actual individuals, but the former were all voice actors not real individuals). There have been several fiction books with that setup too ... [book:FantasticLand|28695606], Daisy Jones ... etc. I do think this came across much better in audio than on the printed page.
Listening - I wasn't able to stop and note/highlight. I know there were times I would think "I need to remember that part, I want to talk about it in my review" and then of course, I don't really remember it all. Just little things, similarities to my experience, things that didn't match, things that made me laugh ... I remember at one point his mom makes a comment and the author inserts "what the F Mom?" or something like that. I laughed at this tone. There WAS a lot of language (f-bomb 109 times, plus others, as well as talk of farts, poo, boogers, vomit, etc.,)
So my original interest was to compare my (limited) experience against the authors ... also to see how much worse it could have been. I was surprised a little at how he was treated (assumed he was drunk, trying to get him to walk. My second event happened at a grocery store, no witness, but it was caught on the security footage. Police were called - just in case it was an attack, or a slip/store's fault, which it wasn't. No one knew what happened. Everyone very professional ... I was able to get the footage from the police cams afterward. I don't have a security code on my phone - which was good, as I was alone but they were able to find contact numbers for my family).
The whole thing kept my interest though, even when it got fairly medical. My nephew suffered from loss of taste/smell during Covid. Learning more about the "training" and tests was interesting. My sister is an interpreter for the deaf, and I studied ASL myself for a while, learning about the deaf community and a bit about cochlear implants. Hubs struggles with loss of hearing in one ear. Insurance ... at one point I was sure there was going to be an issue and they were going to be responsible for payment even after the hospital had gone through pre-approval and said it was covered because they'd met their deductible and out of pocket (THIS is another unfortunate personal experience, still ongoing with us, I was glad that small thing didn't happen for the author at least). There was the discussion about insurance, in-network, will it be covered ... arrrgg.
Other totally random little connections ... "Your odds of surviving a subdural hematoma are roughly fifty-fifty: Anton Chigurh flipping your quarter and demanding you call it." Hubs is a HUGE fan of No Country For Old Men, so I recognized this reference right away (and took the time to find it in the text to highlight and save and share with him).
I'll admit - I hadn't heard of "Deadspin" before ... and my mind just kept going straight to "Deadpool" ... which is not the same thing.
1st person, past tense. No numerical chapters, but divided into parts (three of them) with individual and descriptive chapter headings - I think if I was trying to find a specific part, I could. The epilogue was mostly a "where are they now" about the others in his life ... in the acknowledgments (included in audio, thank you, I like access to ALL the extras if I want them!) I had to laugh again when he noted that the editor/copyeditor "had to deal with my all-caps fetish" ... which I noticed when I glanced through the Kindle copy. I myself am partial to ellipsis ...
I did really like this. I have to wonder how broad the appeal is to everyone though ... would I have been interested in a story about a guy I didn't know about an incident that might not affect me? I was surprised though, at how much beyond the initial similarity, that I felt a connection. Everyone has had to deal with insurance (well, in the US ... I do think I'd like universal healthcare), some of the talk about hearing loss was interesting, as Hubs suffers from Meniers, so different causes, but still some personal connections. So many can connect over the loss of taste and smell after Covid hit.
The writing itself was very conversational - I found quite a bit of humor and laughed out loud a few times. I was listening to the audio edition, which I think I'd recommend over reading (I did grab the kindle copy too, as I try to do with all my audiobooks. Luckily my library had both available). One of the top reviews (I glanced over them before starting my own) didn't care for the numerous "witness" reports ... I actually liked it a lot in audio. They switched out with a number of different narrators (the author narrates the majority of the book, the other voices are professional narrators representing the others). It went really quickly, felt like an interview, in a room talking. Similar presentation to [book:The 9/11 Papers: An Oral History Of The Terror Attacks : Delving into the history, reports, effects, conspiracy and what 9/11 revealed about America|62672530] and another recent listen [book:As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride|21412202] - on both of those I expected to recognize some of the voices (most of the latter WERE voiced by the actual individuals, but the former were all voice actors not real individuals). There have been several fiction books with that setup too ... [book:FantasticLand|28695606], Daisy Jones ... etc. I do think this came across much better in audio than on the printed page.
Listening - I wasn't able to stop and note/highlight. I know there were times I would think "I need to remember that part, I want to talk about it in my review" and then of course, I don't really remember it all. Just little things, similarities to my experience, things that didn't match, things that made me laugh ... I remember at one point his mom makes a comment and the author inserts "what the F Mom?" or something like that. I laughed at this tone. There WAS a lot of language (f-bomb 109 times, plus others, as well as talk of farts, poo, boogers, vomit, etc.,)
So my original interest was to compare my (limited) experience against the authors ... also to see how much worse it could have been. I was surprised a little at how he was treated (assumed he was drunk, trying to get him to walk. My second event happened at a grocery store, no witness, but it was caught on the security footage. Police were called - just in case it was an attack, or a slip/store's fault, which it wasn't. No one knew what happened. Everyone very professional ... I was able to get the footage from the police cams afterward. I don't have a security code on my phone - which was good, as I was alone but they were able to find contact numbers for my family).
The whole thing kept my interest though, even when it got fairly medical. My nephew suffered from loss of taste/smell during Covid. Learning more about the "training" and tests was interesting. My sister is an interpreter for the deaf, and I studied ASL myself for a while, learning about the deaf community and a bit about cochlear implants. Hubs struggles with loss of hearing in one ear. Insurance ... at one point I was sure there was going to be an issue and they were going to be responsible for payment even after the hospital had gone through pre-approval and said it was covered because they'd met their deductible and out of pocket (THIS is another unfortunate personal experience, still ongoing with us, I was glad that small thing didn't happen for the author at least). There was the discussion about insurance, in-network, will it be covered ... arrrgg.
Other totally random little connections ... "Your odds of surviving a subdural hematoma are roughly fifty-fifty: Anton Chigurh flipping your quarter and demanding you call it." Hubs is a HUGE fan of No Country For Old Men, so I recognized this reference right away (and took the time to find it in the text to highlight and save and share with him).
I'll admit - I hadn't heard of "Deadspin" before ... and my mind just kept going straight to "Deadpool" ... which is not the same thing.
1st person, past tense. No numerical chapters, but divided into parts (three of them) with individual and descriptive chapter headings - I think if I was trying to find a specific part, I could. The epilogue was mostly a "where are they now" about the others in his life ... in the acknowledgments (included in audio, thank you, I like access to ALL the extras if I want them!) I had to laugh again when he noted that the editor/copyeditor "had to deal with my all-caps fetish" ... which I noticed when I glanced through the Kindle copy. I myself am partial to ellipsis ...
dark
emotional
funny
slow-paced
This wasn’t a perfect book by any means, but as someone who used to read Deadspin on a daily basis, it felt a bit like coming home and seeing your old friends. Some of the early chapters, when Drew is hospitalized after the fall may seem a little strange if you don’t already have some frame of reference for who all these people are. The end feels a bit sappy, but sometimes a brush with death will do that for you.
Overall it gets 5 stars because I’m glad Drew is still around to write stuff that I want to binge read.
Overall it gets 5 stars because I’m glad Drew is still around to write stuff that I want to binge read.
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
tense
medium-paced
emotional
funny
reflective
I couldn't put this down. I loved the combination of his voice and the anecdotes from his friends/family. The blend of the awful reality he faced and the humor with which he faced it worked perfectly.