Ghost Boy, The miraculous escape of
a misdiagnosed boy trapped inside his own body
Date
Review Posted: February 2015
Authors: Martin Pistorius
Release
Date: 2013
Web
Site (as
applicable): http://www.martinpistorius.com/
Related
Blog (as
applicable):
Rating:
CCCCC (A
case could be made that I would only review the best of the best because if
while reading a book it does not hold my interest, I would not finish it and
therefore would not review it.)
Format:
Life Story Narrative
Reason
For Reading THIS book: Saw it discussed on a TV talk show and the
subject fascinated me AND FOR GOOD REASON - IT IS A GREAT, GREAT STORY!
Number
Of Times I Have Read This Book: One
Brief
Summary of Content: Consider this:
You are a 12 year old normal boy
(or girl) and you begin to become sick and get worse and worse and no one seems
to know what is wrong with you. You go
into a coma, your consciousness is gone, you ability to move any part of your
body is gone. You are literally in a
vegetative state and your future looks extremely dim.
That is the scenario. But it gets worse. Very gradually at first and more rapidly as
time passes, you begin to regain your consciousness but have no way to let
anyone around you know that you are not longer in a mental coma because you
have still lost your ability to move any part of your body. You can see, you can hear and more
importantly you can think. What you
can't do is remember things and you can't move.
WOW! Sounds like a great fictional story but this
is real and the book is written by the "boy" who experienced this
horrible situation. Imagine hearing the
conversations of the people at the side of your bed. If you have ever known anyone who has suffered
from a stroke and appears not to be aware, you can understand part of this
scenario. What you probably cannot
understand is how that same person might "feel" if he or she can hear
every word you say in his or her presence.
Unless you are expressing your loving concern for the individual, you
are probably not going to like what you are saying IF you knew the person
understood you.
On one particular visit by
Martin's mother, she expressed verbally thinking Martin could not hear her a
question as to why he just doesn't die.
It is difficult to write a review
of this book because it reads like a fictional novel and you don't want to give
away the story or the ending. I would
prefer you read the book because it confirms what I have always expected, a lot
of people who appear not to be able to hear and understand you, like stroke
victims, can hear and understand you. I
would prefer you read the book to understand how caregivers acted in his
presence thinking he could not hear or understand their words and/or actions
and believe me when you read about them, you will be as disgusted as I was when
I read them. In some cases the
activities of supposed caregivers is inhuman.
INHUMAN, think about that for a minute.
But then SURPRISE. I discovered that this is not a historical
novel about the medical trials of a 12 year old boy who was thought to be
unconscious for 12 more years. It is
actually a love story in far more ways than one. It came as a total surprise to me and at
times it was very difficult to read through the tears that welled up in my eyes
as I am certain will happen to you as well IF you read the book.
Final
Test: Would I read the book again? That is a great question. The book was so emotional to me while reading
it, I am not certain that I would read it again, not because the content is not
worth it but rather the content thorough "sunk in" as I read it and a
second read would not enhance its value to me.
Would I give the book as a gift?
ABSOLUTELY and most likely will.
Next
Review: Not sure at this time.
