Getting Life [Paperback]

Julie Shaw Cole (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2000

Fiction. This fictionalized account of disability, according to Mary Johnson, fills a gap in human understanding. It accomplished my definition of the purpose of any art. It changed the way I think about the subject. I was forced to rethink my own assumptions about being disabled and the rights of disabled people...By placing the reader in the wheelchair, in the closet, in the window watching, it demystitied many aspects of the physical reality of awareness and experience in such a way that we could all feel and smell what the main character did-- Moira Adams, writer and social activist.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Emily .... funny, imaginative and downright spunky, .... will move the reader to laughter as often as tears. -- Kentucky Monthly, June 2001

Now it's up to us-the reading public-to see that GETTING LIFE finds a home throughout libraries all over the world. -- Institute for Disability Culture Manifesto #27

From the Publisher

This is an excellent novel, the kind all of us writers aspire to produce. This book does what few others do. It gets into the mind of the primary character in a way that draws you into her world so completely you don't want to let her go, says Steve Brown of the Institute for Disability Culture.

As the novel begins the protagonist, Emily, is a non-verbal, nursing home resident who has sat like a lump on a borrowed wheelchair for most of the past seventeen years. But Emily is not a lump; she is a thinking, feeling human being who has never had the opportunity to show her stuff. Raised by an aunt and uncle after her mother was killed in an accident Emily is subjected to tender care from her uncle and abuse and despair from her aunt. When both these relatives die, she is dumped into the nursing home where she believes she'll stay forever.

In one of the novel's many ironies, it is neglect and abuse that changes Emily's life. She is so badly neglected by a member of the nursing home staff that she finds herself in a hospital-and that turns out to be the best thing that could have happened for her. An empathetic doctor sees that there is more to Emily than meets the eye and begins a course of liberating Emily from the nursing home.

This doesn't happen overnight. Just like in real life, Emily has lots of time on her hands in the nursing home, which has been home for many years. She's not that eager to just up and leave. And how can she, she wonders, since she doesn't speak; she can't walk, no one outside of the nursing home will take care of her and on and on. Emily shares her struggles, her pains, her triumphs with us on the path to freedom with which the book concludes.

This is a triumphant story, but more importantly it's a fascinating one which takes us into the minds of several nursing home residents, touches on the lives of several staff members of an independent living center and includes an ADAPT-like group for emphasis. "As I read," said Brown, "my only regret was that not every town has an independent living center like the one in the book-patient, knowledgeable, resourceful, and persistent.

"The highest praise I can give the book is this. Reading it was the last thing I did last night and finishing it was the first thing I did upon waking up in the morning. I couldn't wait to see how Emily began her life. GETTING LIFE has joined Jean Stewart's THE BODY'S MEMORY and Anne Finger's THE BONE TRUTH as the best novels I have read about the daily experience of disability. It should be in every CIL and anyone interested in the state of disability consciousness in the new millennium should find a copy.

GETTING LIFE does an incredible job of acknowledging too often unheard voices.

Product Details

• Paperback: 303 pages
• Publisher: The Advocado Press; 1st edition (October 27, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962706485
• ISBN-13: 978-0962706486
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A life-changing book; an important work., December 7, 2000

By 

Michael E. Mattox (Henryville, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Getting Life (Paperback)

This book will challenge - and possibly alter - your perceptions of the disabled. The disabled person that you know (your uncle, spouse, neighbor, or client) will be seen in a new light. A friend, working wonderfully with the disabled for years, now sees her clients in yet a new way. You will, also. Read this book. You owe it to yourself. It is beautifully written, with great and moving senstivity.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Winner of the WordWeaving Award of Excellence, October 17, 2001

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Life (Paperback)

Author Julie Shaw Cole creates a painful, joyful, enthralling journey toward self-discovery in GETTING LIFE. Told from the first person point of view, she draws the reader deeply into the horrific and frustrating world of nursing home care, seen through the eyes of thirty-five-year-old Emily Mason. Emily spends seventeen years in a wheel chair, watching the play of light on rooftops seen through the window of the nursing home.

When her mother died in an accident, Emily went to live with a tender uncle and an abusive aunt. When these relatives die, Emily comes to live at the nursing home. Her life seemed to be characterized by abuse and neglect, as the people around her assume that because she cannot speak she cannot think. When a devastating accident results in a hospital stay, Emily meets Dr. West, a woman who will change her life. For the first time, someone speaks to her, rather around her or about her. For the first time, her humanity is recognized.

It takes three years and remarkable discipline for Emily to free herself from the nursing home. As she struggles to communicate, to read, to become mobile, and to learn the skills she needs to live independently, her lessons become lessons for the reader about the strength of the human spirit and the weakness of human perception. She confesses her own prejudices and fears, thereby forcing readers to reevaluate themselves. Indeed, readers will find their most basic assumptions challenged; from the accessibility of sidewalks to the way we see those who are different from ourselves. A must read for all caring human beings, GETTING LIFE comes very highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars getting life, November 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Getting Life (Paperback)

this book is true to life for many people with disabilities. Slipping into Em's shoes and reading about how the patients were treated reminded me of a friend that i would visit in a nursing home and found her not quite sitting right in her chair having to eat cold food at mealtimes. Days i would come i would bring some fast food that i bought so she would have something warm to eat.This book is one book that people who are thinking about putting a love one in a nursing home need to read first.