Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life After a Snakebite

by Erec Toso

Late one evening in the summer of 2003, Erec Toso arrived home to his wife and children after an ordinary day at his university office. In the darkness of his yard, a rattlesnake lay along the path, basking in the post-monsoon coolness. Toso, lost in thought, never saw the snake, which struck him on the foot and injected a huge dose of venom. Zero at the Bone is a deeply personal narrative about Toso's physical recovery and emotional transformation following this near-death experience. In elegant prose that inspires as much as it unsettles, Toso takes the reader along with him on his expedition into the uncharted territory of cellular damage, hallucination, and ultimately profound spiritual awakening. On all levels, it is a book about pain. Toso spares no detail in his accounts of agonizing hospital procedures, in his revelations about rattlesnake lore, or in his descriptions of the wide-ranging effects of snake venom. But quickly the reader realizes that the physical pain of the snakebite is only the more tangible marker of the psychological pain and turmoil that Toso endures in the emotional journey that ensues. In the months that follow his terrifying attack, priorities, daily habits, family relations, and definitions of self all come into question. What is predictable becomes problematic; what is comfortable becomes disconcerting. In a story that hinges on a common fear about an unlikely event--that of a snakebite--Toso uncovers a more widespread reality that many of us do not fear enough--complacency.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816525919
• ISBN13: 9780816525911
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Super Book That Ruined My Life....

"Zero at the Bone" has ruined my life. His writings are the words, sentences and expressions that I would like to be able to use to express my thoughts, feelings and experiences. However, I know I will never be able to do it, as well as he has. "Zero" is the story of Erec Toso, a 40ish Tucson writing teacher and runner, who received a life threatening rattlesnake bite that affected and changed his life (for worse and better). It was one of the best written and most engaging books I have ever read. I have highly recommended it to all my male-female angst friends, aging athletes, Tucsonans, and lovers of fine writing (that covers everyone I know). "Zero" is actually 3 books: First, before the bite, he writes of the male-aging angst: "My heart grows hard when certain subjects come up. It bars entry, switches on the security system, lets threats trigger the lockdown of emotions under siege.....There are questions I am not strong enough to entertain, that are too big to digest......" I call this part of the book - "Telling life How It Is Before a Snakebite". Then, there is adventure and mystery, as we suffer through the actual physical trauma of the injury with him, not knowing how this will ultimately affect Erec or his family or if he will even survive. Finally, it becomes philosophically descriptive of how his life changed and actually benefited from the snake-bite. I can identify with Toso; He lives where I live, thinks my thoughts, shares my concerns about the world and the environment. The glaring difference is that he is able express these feelings. And in addition to "ruining my life", his writing may have also "saved" my life by helping me realize I'm leading MY LIFE now. "This is not a practice run; there are no do-overs."

Masterful

Erec Toso, by stepping on a rattlesnake, unwittingly embarked upon the modern version of the shamanic journey. He descended through pain and near death to that place where important gifts are given and brought one back for all of us: the message to wake up and pay attention. Toso skillfully braids together multidimensional narratives, much like, in his words, the healing symbol of the caduceus is balanced by intertwining snakes. One level is that of the rattlesnake and its environment. We must wake up to the fact that we are destroying its southwestern desert habitat, and by extension, all habitats. Henry David Thoreau and Edward Abbey would approve of Toso's fierce call to change our relationship with the places in which we live. Another level is paying attention in our relationships with each other. Toso describes, in sometimes embarrassingly honest detail, his own journey with the toughest relationships of all--family. Toso calls us to notice the ways in which we hurt each other and offers paying attention as the first step in healing our family wounds. When Zen masters speak of "chop wood, carry water," the work of transformation sounds bland. What Toso describes, however, is the messy, sloppy, and sometimes jagged business of struggling to jettison old patterns of thinking, reacting, and feeling in that psychic caldron we call family. This healing work is hardly bland. While others might have descended into a narcissistic tale of personal triumph or a ranting diatribe against the evils of modernity, Toso does neither. With self-deprecating humor he offers up his own journey with all of it imperfections. His observations and lessons learned along the way are humbly displayed as one example of how we can negotiate these times and places in which we precariously live. Toso masterfully crafted his message to make it accessible and real, and his call to wake up got my attention.

we are not seperate

Erec Toso strikes as deeply with his compellingly, insightful description of his personal spiritual journey as any rattlesnake. A reminder that we cannot deny our co-dependence with nature. In this time of awakening to our place on this earth Zero at the Bone brings us into direct contact with the forces that resonate in our primitive nature. Zero at the Bone brings us back to something we are losing in our everyday lives. Something we cannot afford to forget.

Gripping

A "must read" for anyone interested in the world of rattlesnakes or the medical recovery one might encounter after be bitten by one, the world of the desert southwest, the world of encountering one's inner demons, or the world of potential spiritual growth and transformation. A poignant and compelling book.

Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life after a Snakebite

Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life after a Snakebite In Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life after a Snakebite, Erec Toso reveals that he is clearly a superb writer and ultimate educator. He teaches us the facts of biology, ecology, herpetology and medicine, while leading us through his spiritual journey in a way that illuminates our own. Erec's healthy addiction to the desert and its inherent perils is beautifully woven through this intricate story of transformation.