The World I Fell Into: What Breaking My Neck Taught Me About Life by Melanie Reid

The World I Fell Into: What Breaking My Neck Taught Me About Life Reviews

• 
  Kate

  A insightful, powerful memoir!
  
  Reid found herself paralyzed from the chest down after falling off her horse and breaking her neck, she was fifty two. THE WORLD I FELL INTO is her account of spending a year in hospital working to regain movement again.
  
  This memoir was everything I hoped it would be! With dark humor and much honesty Reid paints a vivid picture of her new world as a quadriplegic person, what it's like losing the use of your body while your mind is still intact made for a very humbling reading experience.
  
  I cant imagine going through such a life altering experience and coming out the other side with as much hope as Reid does. Not everyone could survive the mental, let alone physically toll that Reid lived through and her journey is inspiring and very moving.
  
  Thank you to @greystonebooks for sending me this book opinions are my own.
  
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• 
  Paul Sutter

  They say the unpredictability of life means that it can change in the blink of an eye. How true that is. One second everything seems to be going along swimmingly and the next, it hurtles into madness and chaos. That is pretty well what happened with Melanie Reid, who had a great life until one point in her life.
  She was fifty-two years old, a journalist and editor, who traveled, and enjoyed life to the fullest. Melanie had always liked horses. Then she get her own horse, and one day when out for a ride, she tried to get her horse to jump. For some reason it was not in a jumping mindset, and Melanie was thrown from the horse onto the ground. It was not a simple fall as Melanie’s neck was broken, and there were fractures in her lower back. She was quadriplegic, flown by air ambulance to Scotland, where she would reside for close to a year.
  In the book THE WORLD I FELL INTO (WHAT BREAKING MY NECK TAUGHT ME ABOUT LIFE), we read about her trials, tribulations and frustrations, about being paralyzed from the chest down. Her book tells of her powerful desire to prove the doctors wrong, and actually get out of the bed and move on her own accord. Life as she knew would no longer be the same, but not for one second did Melanie truly resign herself to her fate; she vowed that she would make progress and hopefully return to as semi-normal a life as possible.
  There was total frustration for losing her dependence, and requiring others to do everything for her, including personal hygiene. It was a loss of dignity in many ways, but she accepted it as a way of life for possibly the rest of that life. Melanie writes with great candor, and warmth and adds some humor to the mix, even though there was little reason to smile and acknowledge all that happened. She kept positive, trying to will her body to move, even a toe, hoping for a miracle. She did undergo physical therapy, and with the use of machines did get her body to move as much as possible, buoying hope it would be a beginning of which might improve over time.
  She talks about when discharged from the hospital, and after all the therapy and assistance given her there, little was forthcoming once she was back in her own home. It was the nature of the health care system, limited funds and workers.
  She talks lovingly of her husband Dave, who rose to the occasion and became her caregiver, always striving to make his wife as comfortable as possible. The book is emotional and powerful, showing that even in the darkness of life, there are glimmers of light that keep us motivated and hopeful.
• 
  Carol

  I wish that I could give this book 20 stars. I am 75 years old, I fall sometimes. After reading "The World I Fell Into: What Breaking My Neck Taught Me About Life" by Melanie Reid, I never ever want to fall again! Her whole world changed when she fell off her horse and became paralyzed.
  
  
  This is a memoir, so gives backstory about being a little girl with a passion for horses. Her parents could not afford to buy her a horse, but she drew them, pretended to be one and read horse magazines.
  
  Finally, at the age of 52, she had a horse, and he was supposed to jump. But he refused, and she flew over the horse's ears and broke her neck. With that, her whole life changed. Flown by helicopter and told not to move. Her brain was working, Not able to feel her body, in the high dependency ward.
  
  Everything had to be done for her and that include deeply embarrassing that she had never imaged. Later she was transferred to a ward that involved physical therapy, which was hours and hours of work trying to stay positive, push for a tiny movement of a toe. Later learning things that she took for granted before, like being able to get in and out of a car, to stand, to walk with the aid of machines.
  
  You cannot turn back time, but I know that she had not tried to take that jump with the horse that refused. The author is brutally honest about everything that she lost. It is a very painful book to read. I recently read about a local cheerleader who took a fall and is now living the life of a person who is paralyzed. In that situation, you have to keep pushing yourself to regain any tiny portion of mobility. It is a constant war and even though you try and try, there will be a limit to what you can eventually be able to do.
  
  You do not have to be riding a horse or be a cheerleader to fall and break your neck. Be careful!
  
  I am going to keep my copy, and I know that I will never take any fall lightly. Now that I know what can happen, I want to always be careful I feel very bad for that cheerleader in our town. I hope that her family gives her a lot of emotional support.
  
  I received an advance copy of this body from the publishers as a win from LibraryThing.
• 
  Lisa Miller

  This memoir by Melanie Reed provides an excellent insight into the long term ups and down of high-level spinal cord injury. I work as a Physical Therapist in a hospital setting so I've seen a fair number of high level spinal cord injuries, but I only see patients for the first few weeks following their injury before they transfer to a rehab hospital. Reid's descriptions of what long term intensive therapy and eventual return home looks like showed me an aspect of recovery I'm not very familiar with. Hearing her personal reflections on being in the healthcare system and coming to terms with her injury was helpful because patients I've seen in the early stages are often not in a place to be open with their thoughts and feelings. On the other hand, being a memoir Reid focused on various aspects of her life and recovery meaningful to her but not so interesting to me. The multiple chapters that dealt exclusively with horses and riding culture, specifically. I understand the inclusion of that information but those sections were a real slog for me. Overall I recommend this book for anyone that wants a better insight into spinal cord injury recovery, but don't be afraid to skim through certain sections.
  
  Thanks to Library Thing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
• 
  Beth Withers

  This book definitely made me think on many different levels. Reid has gone through so much but has remained positive and hopeful in a realistic way. Her attitude is truly inspirational, whether she intends it to be or not. Her writing will teach you much about a world of disability that few of us have encountered, in all its reality. Sometimes I found it hard to read in places and had to put the book down to consider what I'd read. I so appreciate the courage it took to write this.
  
  ***I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.***
• 
  Shelly Quinn

  Melanie was 52 when she fell off her horse and broke her neck. She spent the next year in the hospital working courageously to regain her strength. She fought for independence in every way...just learning to transfer herself into a car was a huge step for her. When she went home, she went through another round of battles both mentally and physically. I admire her fight for life and her lessons to enjoy life every day!
  
  I won this ARC book from Librarything and I enjoyed reading it very much. I have a Little Free Library and I look forward to sharing this book with others.
• 
  Bookish207

  Whew, this one was a hard one to get through. I picked it up and put it down a number of times before finally finishing it. It's an eye-opening look at the immediate and long-term aftermath of spinal cord injury and paralysis. It's pretty unflinching, and an important read for those who wish to understand what life is like for the disabled (which should be all of us, btw). It felt disjointed in parts, and rushed at the end...in that we are still left a bit wondering what DID this teach her about life? All in all a good read, but not one that I would repeat.
• 
  Jeanmarie Nielsen

  I loved this book, first of all. Secondly, I feel a bit sheepish to say that, but, the clear-eyed account of a life-altering event and its aftermath is compelling and beautifully written. I wish the accident had not happened, but it did and Melanie Reid survived and found new ways to thrive. I received a copy of this book as an Adv Reader's Copy and am very grateful to have had the opportunity, and pleasure, to read it!
• 
  Mary

  This was a difficult book for me to read. I was expecting more about what lessons Melanie Reid learned from her fall and less of the intense treatment and personal care details. And perhaps my
  perspective is different because I have known enough disabled people to have seen their challenges and the difference that attitude can make in their lives. One thing that I did appreciate is her can-do attitude. You will never make any progress if you just sit back and let the world revolve around you. Melanie Reid wanted no part of that – she was determined to make forward progress and still be able to contribute to this world. She was fortunate that her injury left her able to type with one finger so that she continue could her work as a writer.
  
  I admire her husband. His role in their marriage changed as he had to take over things she had done before. Melanie also did her part to keep the marriage intact. I can relate to her love of horses. Even after her fall from a horse left her so severely injured, she still wanted horses to be a part of her life.
  
  The book is well written, but I just felt too overwhelmed by medical details. Not because they were unfamiliar, but because they just kept coming.
  
  Thank you to Greystone Books and LibraryThing.com for the Advance Reader’s Copy you sent me.
  No promise was made of a positive review and the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.