A Review, Of Sorts

I am not very good at reviewing things.

Normally, I don't have a very good objective outlook for things. I will either love something or hate it. I am not even very good when it comes to rating something on a scale of 1 to 5 or 10, I will usually pick the middle just to play it safe.

I don't know why it is really. Maybe I was just raised to not be that critical (though I do an excellent job of being critical of myself).

I wanted to discuss the book that I just finished reading. Maybe you have seen it. Maybe you have heard about it, and if you read this blog with any regularity then you know who the author is and some of what it is about. The book is Schuyler's Monster: A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter. The book stems from the blog that Mr. Rummel-Hudson started long before his daughter was born (long before there were blogs) and then continued to update all through his daughters struggle and diagnosis. Schuyler (Pronounced Skyler) has polymicrogyra which is not what Daniel has exactly but it is in the same family.

For the record I hate that fucking family. Every last one of the motherfuckers. They live all over the world and affect little children everywhere and I really would like to just kill off the whole clan.

But I digress.

I read the book and I liked it. Of course only in the way you can like something that is about exactly what you are going through and about sheer depression and disappointment. It was very well written and for the most part in the end it is a feel good book. Obviously it is not the end. Schuyler is still very much alive and thriving and so that is a positive like no other. I read it and as I was reading I immediately identified with the parents and their struggle. I also felt very strong that Jason should not read the book and I told him just that.

He was not very pleased with this. He wanted to know why and I told him--I didn't think that he had a good grasp of Daniel's disease. Of course (and this has NEVER happened before) I was wrong. I couldn't have been more wrong about that. Jason knows exactly what is wrong with Daniel and what may happen and what his life might be like, but Jason and I deal differently with things (always have) and while I openly fret/worry/disable at the thought of something bad, Jason doesn't go there. He genuinely takes every day one day at a time and doesn't go far into the future. I for one cannot imagine doing that but he does and thank god for that. I also thought that Jason might not be able to handle the book because Schuyler's dad talks a lot about god and his lack of belief in god after her diagnosis was found out. Though now that I read it I think Jason might actually get a good outlook from the book.

Who else would I recommend the book to? No one. Not that it is not a good book and well written but I think to go ahead and recommend it would not be in good taste. I will say this, it is far better than anything I could've written and if you are interested in reading more about the struggle of this family, this courageous little girl and what it all means then you should check it out.

I think each child in their own right has a story that needs telling. Some have others tell it for them and some go right on telling it for themselves. I know Daniel in his young life so far has his own story to tell but I fully expect that some day he will tell it.

Daniel is a lover and a dreamer and I suspect that when he gets older that he will turn to the written word to express himself and his own struggle with this disease. And let me tell you, when that happens I will rate it a 10 out of 10 and recommend it to everyone!