A review by ianmcnamara
Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family by Cameron Bloom

5.0

After watching the movie on Netflix yesterday i felt inspired to read the book. I found the brutal honesty of the story both painful and uplifting to read. However it was refreshing to read such an honest account of the families struggle specially the honesty of sam’s message. Two many people feel a need to put on a front but in her message Sam admitted truly how she feels, despite leading a reasonable quality of life and coming so far being able to admit not being at peace with her condition is something we can all learn from. As a person with a disability myself I appreciated the tips she gave to both the person with a disability and the family members on how to handle the disability as the person with the disability and how to positively help the person with the disability as a non disabled person. I have had my disability my whole life so I can’t imagine what’ that must be like for somebody to suddenly become disabled. If I meet someone who has become blind quite recently I try my best to be empathetic and offer practical help rather than trying to understand what they are going through because the truth is I have never been any different so for me it is normal, therefore I’m not able to fully get how they are feeling. Yes, I can understand some of the challenges they face because I Face them myself, as a person living with the same disability however I cannot understand them from an emotional level as it is different Having been born with a disability to acquiring it later on. Everything she said about how to treat somebody with a disability completely resonated. I myself don’t llike being called an inspiration, i like being known as just me. A wonderful story filled with honesty and some fantastic practical advice.