As a trauma survivor seeking clarity and healing, I thought that Rosenthal does a GREAT job of describing the trauma and post-trauma experience, particularly the sense of losing the power to comprehend and communicate feelings. I deeply appreciate her honesty and what I imagine was an incredibly trying experience of putting fingers to keyboard. There is so much honesty here, and I'll be passing it along to people as a means to describe some of the experience.

I will say that I found her dialogue to be clunky and forced (dare I say corny?), and her extensive descriptions of ballroom dance made me roll my eyes. That aside, I really appreciate her respect for survivors' autonomy and choices, and the fact that she explicitly says at several points that noone can dictate the path to healing. I do feel like she minimized the experience and importance of therapy (illustrating the passage of time is not her strong suit), but therapy is fucking boring for anyone who isn't there so I understand taking that liberty.

Definitely a great resource for people struggling to understand PTSD, both survivors and their allies.

I bought this book on a whim; I can't even recall how I came across it. On page one the author describes the before/after experience of a medical nightmare and I was hooked. I've often explained my brush with death via bacterial meningitis this way and nobody quite understands like someone who has survived a medical hell. I found this book to be balm for my weary soul, and it's nice to know the are others out there who understand. Also? It is well-written and a interesting (true) story.