When I was a preteen suddenly having to cope with a drastically changed family and community after my younger sister, Harriet, survived spinal meningitis with severe and permanent residual brain damage I felt isolated. I didn't know anyone else in my situation. As a devoted reader I turned to the library to find a character like myself...
...only to find nothing. There were no siblings of children with profound disabilities as protagonists. Actually there were very few people with handicaps in books and they tended to be portrayed as saintly overcomers of odds or tragic victims. Fortunately today this situation has changed for the better. One of the best examples of this is Crystal Allen's Between Two Brothers.
Ice (Isaiah) and his older brother, Seth, are much closer than most sibling pairs. The farming family brothers are best friends who look out for one another. They have a special saying, between brothers, to emphasize their sibling solidarity. As Seth starts his last year of school Ice is determined to make the most of their last full year together...
...except it doesn't exactly work out that way. Seth starts blowing off commitments he's made to Ice. Then Ice learns that Seth will be leaving for college a semester early. The boys fight. Ice is filled with regret and a need to apologize...
...which doesn't happen because Seth gets in a car accident, suffering such severe brain injury he has to be put in a medically induced coma. His doctor doesn't know if he'll ever again walk, talk, or even open his eyes.
The ring of authenticity is there in all facets of the book from Ice's complex and sometimes contradictory personality through Allen's refusal to provide an unrealistic happy ever after to realistic descriptions of the challenges the family faces such as when they have two days to acquire the medical equipment and expertise to care for Seth when he comes home from the hospital.
So it should come as no surprise that Allen wrote from life experience. A catastrophic accident changed her family dynamics. She could see the impact not only on her injured child, but on her older child, herself, and her husband. Although its characters are fictional, she describes Between Two Brothers as the story she was living.
On a very purrrsonal note, when I was 11 one evening I wanted to play with Harriet's new Mouse Trap game. Harriet said no. I said "I hate you. I hope you die." Mom and I spent the weekend at a Girl Scout camping weekend. Then Sunday we were speeding back because Harriet was in the hospital probably dying. I thought God was fulfilling what He thought was a request. I asked him please not to kill her. So I thought it was my fault when she didn't die but was never the same. I wish my parents were as unified as Ice's parents were. My father wanted to give Harriet's custody to a state hospital, not waste money on her. My mother thought Harriet's disabilities were only temporary. She could still become a lawyer. The first Christmas after Harriet's catastrophic illness she gave a recording of famous supreme court cases. I wisely refrained from saying that Harriet had as much of practicing law as our cats did.
I real love an Emile Zola quote Allen includes in the introduction: "We are like books. Most people only see our cover. The minority read only the introduction. Many people believe the critics. Few will know our content." A great big shout out goes out to the really special people in my life who have gone past my cover and introduction to see (and love) my content.
I will have amazing news to include in my next book review.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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