Customer Reviews

Finding Magic Mountain: Life with Five Glorious Kids and a Rogue Gene Called FOP

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Finding Magic Mountain: Life with Five Glorious Kids and a Rogue Gene Called FOP (Avalon Publishing Group) constitutes nothing less than operating instructions on how to grow emotional calluses and take life on, on its own terms. In her fast-moving memoir about a large lively family pulling together over the musculoskeletal disorder FOP, which appears in her son Vincent's ninth year, Carol Zapata-Whelan tells a story of hope and epiphanies. She won't let the reader into the full impact of FOP until her story is well underway, and then crafts a breathtaking scene around the opening of a manila envelope: "As my husband and I sat in the family room that night, absorbing the words on those Xeroxed pages, it was as if all sound and motion had stopped and that white room with blue couches was a bell jar, or a frozen frame in a film, or even that instant when the electricity goes and you suddenly hear the silence under ordinary life." We are given a roadmap through disbelief, denial, rage, bargaining and an uneasy truce that might be called acceptance: It is Elizabeth Kubler Ross's work that Zapata-Whelan leads us through, keeping her point of view--as mother--straight. As a writer, I appreciate the fluid narrative structure of Zapata-Whelan's book and how she makes a universal statement of coping with suffering out of the particulars of her life: her tardiness, her Latinness, her otherworldliness, her rapport with husband and children, with the Old World grandparents. It is, ultimately, from her son Vincent's grace and steadiness that Zapata-Whelan learns about joy along life's toughest roads.
I loved this book for the warrior path that the author blazes through her example of love, courage, and bravery in the face of overwhelming heartbreak.

With self-effacing humor and grace, Carol Zapata-Whelan chronicles her son Vincent's ongoing journey with a rare genetic disease, and the gifts of faith, humility, and acceptance that sustain them along the way. Juggling a family of five children ranging in age from college to kindergarten, Ms. Zapata-Whelan writes about life, parenting, and spirituality, citing both our greatest poets and the playground wisdom of four-year-olds along the way. A testament to a son's courage and a mother's perseverance and love, this book's inspiring message will stay with you for a long time to come.

As someone with the disease, FOP, I thought this book
would be something different than what it is- but it is wonderful.
It is everyday life grafted suddenly into a road less traveled by
few, but exclaims a spirit of endurance that is universal. Zapata-
Whelan is real and identifiable in her life as a hurried but
dedicated mom, university professor, and instant advocate for her
son, Vincent. The only other books I can remember reading and not
able to put down until every last word was read were The Bell Jar,
by Sylvia Plath, and a book by Garcia Marquez where there is love
in the midst of a war zone. In the war zone of fop, and the sadness
and joy that follows the events unfolding in their lives, this must-
read is one you won't be able to put down.

I want to say first off I very much admire people like Carol Zapata-Whelan, who took on her son's rare genetic disease head-on, and in the process certainly helped many others with the same disease and similar ones. I know a child with the most severe form of OI (Brittle Bone Disease) and I admire anyone working for cures to genetic bone disorders.

However, I wish the book had not strayed quite so much from Vincent's story. Perhaps the author could write other books, ones about her family's mix of Irish and Argentine culture, or about college admission processes, or about many topics, but they all should not have been included in this one! The part of the story about Vincent's college decisions shows how hard it is to find a college for a child with a disability, but there is just too much about each college he's considering, and about how he didn't get into Stanford!

Also, I wish Vincent's journey was told about more in order of how it happened. Flashbacks and back and forth time periods work better in a novel than in a medical memoir! I would also have loved to read more medical information on FOP---more of a history of its discovery and more about how it affects the body.

These are all quibbles, and they don't really take away from what is here, and I would certainly encourage anyone with an interest in this topic to read this book!

Carol is a wonderful writer who tells an inspiring tale about her family's incredible journey through a relatively unknown disease. Her words are encouraging. If you've ever dealt with a chronically ill child or need help in triumphing over adversity, you'll love this book!

This book is a chant to life. The basic values of humanity,love, honesty, compassion and courage are to be found in Carol Zapata-Whelan's story. Knowing from the outset that she is fighting an unknown adversary who changes faces and steps like a demon, blinding his oponent, Carol shows grit from the opening of Magic Mountain up to the end of this dramatic narrative.

Carol Zapata-Whelan has a compelling story to tell, but the author jumps back and forth between time and place in a very confusing manner, talking about the struggles to get her son into college, back to the past, when she was dealing with one chronically ill child and just beginning to suspect that her second child was also stricken with the same genetic disorder, a debilitating disease for which there is no cure.

While the book meanders way too much in some places, perhaps that is the true nature of being the parent of five beautiful children who are struggling to live with an unpredictable and chronic disease. There is no clear path from A to Z, as there would be in an autobiography written by an adult dealing with their own chronic or terminal illness. The real beauty in this story is how a family finds a way to go on living in the face of undaunting odds and challenges.


"FOP - Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva -is a rare genetic disorder in which bone forms in muscles, tendons, ligaments, and other connective tissues. Bridges of extra bone form across the joints in characteristic patterns, progressively restricting movement. FOP is a disease in which the body produces not just too much bone, but an extra skeleton that immobilizes the joints of the body." - Official description of FOP from The International FOP Association.

Amazing read. Couldn't put it down and yet I wanted it to last. Bought 3 more copies and gave as gifts because the lesson was so important.

Finding Magic Mountain is the read of the year! How Carol Zapata Whelan shares her and her families struggles and reaction to such a rare and virtually obscure musculoskeletal disease, then their triumphs and mile stones.This not only touches your heart, but it's also very true, indeed!

This is a must read for any family coping with a tragic diagnosis. As devastating as FOP is, the Whelan family proves that life does not stop with the diagnosis, but is just beginning. They show how life can, and does go on, and if you try hard enough, life can be fun and interesting, productive & successful, despite setbacks due to the progression of such a serious disease, to which there is no treatment or cure as of yet.

To learn more about FOP, and also how you can help with research, please visit: [...] after you have read this wonderful, straight from the heart book!!!