The Body Broken: A Memoir

by Lynne Greenberg

Book Overview

At 19, Greenberg narrowly survived a devastating car crash. When her broken neck healed, she was hailed as a medical miracle. But when an unbearable pain in her neck returned many years later, she and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400067421
• ISBN13: 9781400067428
• Release Date: March 2009
• Publisher: Random House
• Length: 220 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Must read for anyone with chronic pain and those who love them

Words cannot express how amazing this book is. It is as if someone narrated my every thought for the last 2 years and then translated it into beautiful prose. I found myself re-reading certain sentences and paragraphs over and over, equal parts awed and delighted. I would love it if everyone read this book - then they could understand the deep abyss that chronic pain throws its sufferers into and stop asking why we can't just "think ourselves out of it." It is a baffling and soul-crushing condition and Greenberg is frank about how much her psyche suffered and still suffers. She has a much more realistic ending than most memoirs about chronic pain - one in which she is hopeful and is aware of the power of a positive attitude - but also one in which she still admits that the pain rules some days and does so with an iron fist. Please, please, please read this if you suffer from chronic pain - just so you can feel the camaraderie and know you are not alone. Please, please, please read this if you love someone with chronic pain - as you will get an insight that we sufferers can rarely show (due to a combination of societal mores' pressure to not complain, stalwartness, and fear that we will scare you).

Pain as a character

In the course of my research for a book partly concerned with torture, I found that there were surprisingly few decent books on pain, and that very few of those were even remotely literary. So this book is a rare bird indeed. Also surprisingly, despite the subject it's not depressing. Five stars.

Healing a broken body and a wounded soul

There is a lot to love in this book. It is not weighed down by too much verbiage. The word choice is masterful. It is beautifully written. It is simultaneously simple and complex. The poems about pain that begin each chapter act as a needle and thread sewing the narrative together. Some of us have not spent a lot of time with poetry since college; this book offers a chance to revisit some beauties with fresh explications and insights. I was left wanting to pull out some of those old anthologies. As someone who had a similar experience with the medical community, I was particularly gratified by Greenberg's description of the extremes of anger, frustration, helplessness and self-blame that a patient with a difficult-to-diagnose condition goes through. Her treatment of the doctors is fair and nuanced--she neither deifies nor demonizes. Her honesty about her failings as a mother, as a sister and as a friend is refreshing. This book is a beautiful little treasure chest.

Contemplating The Body Broken . . .

This gorgeous, haunting memoir portrays Greenberg's hellish journey into the world of chronic pain without ever asking for reader's pity, and with such glorious language that the experience of reading it is remarkably enjoyable, considering the grave subject matter. Given Greenberg's position as a literary scholar, it is not surprising that interwoven throughout the book's pages are a multitude of poems and quotes and references - all relating to the universal, timeless experience of pain. At the same time, the author is at ease discussing the more mundane aspects of her journey - trips to Starbucks with her best girlfriends, retail therapy, etc. This book is not necessarily of the "feel good memoir" genre - the author is quite honest about the ongoing nature of her condition. Still, there is a realness to her voice, and a believable coming-to-terms that is ultimately uplifting and honest. I would highly recommend this memoir to any person struggling with chronic pain or illness, or to loved ones eager to provide the incredible support that Greenberg received from family and friends throughout the darkest days of her ordeal.

Moving and revealing personal journey

Wow! What a good read! Lynne Greenberg's revealing and moving memoir recounts her journey into and out of the abyss of living with chronic pain. This is a beautifully written personal story that will touch anyone. She frankly discusses the trials of going through various medical therapies and takes the reader on an unsentimental ride through her personal hell and then back out - into a new, different life. This book will be healing to the millions of chronic pain sufferers and the millions more who love them and live through it with them.