A Book Addict's Musings by Readinghearts

Barefoot in November is not the type of book I usually read. Although I have been know to read almost any genre, memoirs and self-help books are probably the ones that I read the least of. The premise for this book sounded interesting, though, and it was loaned to me by a friend. Since it was only 190 pages I figured I would give it a try. What I found here was a well written account of the author's journey through his illness and recovery from an aortic aneurysm. I found Benjamin J. Carey's ability to tell his story and keep me interested wonderful. I especially loved the way that he was able to describe his feelings of denial, depression, anger, etc, without being angry or depressing. In addition, the fact that a healthy, active adult could have such a life threatening illness and not know it also made quite an impact on me. After all, as Ben himself says, this was not a case of an over-weight, sedentary person dealing with the results of his bad lifestyle choices. Another part of the book that drew my attention was how great his family support system was. In fact, after reading the book, I think his wife must be a saint! I'm not sure if I could have come through all of this quite as well as both she and Ben did. In the end, this is a book about facing life and not letting it get the best of you. It is about knowing your responsibility to your family and acting accordingly, and ultimately, about fighting and winning. A great read!