In sixteen essays, poet Molly McCully Brown explores living within and beyond the limits of a body-in her case, one shaped since birth by cerebral palsy, a permanent and often painful movement disorder.
That is how I felt reading Brown’s words: like I had fainted because the pain was too much for me to handle, and I’d just woken up with her looking down at me, fanning my face, saying, “You’re okay. You’ll be okay.” Her prose held me, saw me for what I was. Though different from mine, her struggles reminded me that me and my aching body are not alone. And for that, I am deeply, relievingly grateful ... masterful, heartrending essays that neither shy away from pain nor bow down to it.
... searing and ineffable essays ... Brown describes in gorgeous prose her lifelong struggle with cerebral palsy, which has confined her to a wheelchair. At times painful to read, it is equally difficult to put down. The reader feels Brown’s anguish but also appreciates fleeting moments of beauty ... The essays are enlightening on so many levels as she describes situations many of us take for granted ... Brown’s essays can feel like a punch in the gut, but they are beautiful, nevertheless.
... a moving collection ... Brown is a superb essayist in both technical form and unexpected titles alone make you want to read them ... passionate, wry, and unflinchingly frank ... an unblinking personal journey that takes us to places we all need to know and understand better.
