Author Ara Ashburne had hoped that her IVF treatment would be uncomplicated and simple- after all, there was nothing wrong with her or her husband Michael’s fertility, aside from the testicular cancer that had required Michael to store sperm for later use. But an ectopic pregnancy left her in unimaginable pain, pain that unsympathetic doctors ignored until she had to be rushed back to the hospital with a horrific infection. The resulting damage left her in a coma for weeks, in which she suffered disturbing and painful visions, and required the removal of much of her abdominal muscle and tissue, leaving her permanently weakened. Afterwards, her loss of ability led her even to consider suicide – but she managed to pull herself through the darkest times and back into life again, even finding adventure in everything from presidential inauguration parties to riding a motor scooter across the Midwest to becoming a creative coach for artists. RECONSTRUCTION is the story of how she was able to draw from the depths of her painful experience to create a new and vibrant existence for herself.
Ara is a lively, energetic woman whose intensity and determination practically leap off of the page. She is not afraid to be absolutely honest and open about her experiences, exposing her own fears, doubts, and private anguish without hesitation. Her writing is clear and straightforward, without self-pity or mawkishness, even when speaking of her darkest and most frightening visions. The first half of the book, especially Ara’s hospital stay, veers back and forth from clinical medical detail to dreamlike visions to her experience of external real-world events, including the disputed 2000 election. This provides the reader with a vivid sense of the surrealistic fog that Ara moves through during her illness, which gradually fades as she heals and grows more connected to herself and her new life. Her triumphs are related with a delighted and contagious enthusiasm, communicating vividly how very important even the smallest steps have been for her. Her courage, her love for those who are dear to her, and her considerable talents and capacity for growth, are admirable, even inspirational.
The inclusion of her doctors’ notes and the emails sent out to friends about her condition are useful to the story up to a point, but perhaps add a bit too much clinical detail to the book – the notes, additionally, are printed in the doctors’ handwriting rather than being typed out, which makes them sometimes rather hard to read. The disjointed style, particularly at the beginning, also means that some things are not clearly explained – Yvonne, for example, joins the story rather abruptly, without a clear explanation of who precisely she is, her relationship to Ara, the source of her conflict with Ara’s parents, or much other background information.
RECONSTRUCTION is an intensely powerful book, the tale of one woman’s spiraling path from traumatic, nearly fatal experiences to a new, stronger and radiantly beautiful self.
~IndieReader.