Customer Reviews

Out On A Limb (American Autobiography)

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At the age of eight, Louise Baker lost her right leg in a bicycle-meets-car accident. Out on a Limb is her story of her subsequent life as a uniped. Throughout the book she maintains a fine balance, never denying the difficulties of her handicap, never inviting pity for her plight, as she recounts adventures she might never have had with two legs.

The book is filled with potentially useful information about living with a handicap: for instance, to prevent nerve damage that can incapacitate the arms, the proper way to walk on crutches is to bear your weight with your hands, not on the armpit saddles,. Also, the skilled crutch user keeps the crutches straight and close to the body, not flung wide, where they may trip a by-passer. (Baker does point out that if you want to trip someone, you can fling the crutches wide and trip, and the victim of this minor perfect crime will be apologizing for his clumsiness before he is back on his feet!)

As balanced as the narrative perspective is the prose: even, deceptively simple, every word right. Baker's light sense of humor plays well against the serious elements of her story. Mournful self-pity is certainly not her style, but she can show her handicap to be a terrible nuisance. Example: She went horseback riding with a man who wanted to propose to her. Unaware of his intentions but acutely aware of how unglamorous she was on the remount, she refused his invitation to dismount and talk for a while. At that interesting moment her horse took off back to the stable, and he was forced to ask her to marry him at the top of his lungs as his horse galloped behind. (She accepted.)

This little episode, lightly told, is typical of the method of the book, where potentially serious situations work out well in the end, even though everything would have been easier (but possibly less fun) with two legs

I love this little book, and I wish it were back in print at a price I could afford..

I found this book in my high school library (way back in 1966) and it has stuck in my mind ever since. Louise states that she was exactly the right age to become disabled--young enough not to be bitter and old enough to figure out all the fun things she could do with a prothesis and crutches. All the kids on the street wanted to play with her crutches, which came in handy for at least one person who was later wounded in battle--he got on the crutches and demonstrated one of the fancy moves they had come up with years ago. Ham and legs--a game she would play with nosy people asking how she lost a leg--allowed her imagination free rein as she would make up outrageous stories. She has a great attitude and, though I'm sure she went through some hard times (three husbands!), you would never know it from reading the book. I'm so glad I was able to find a used copy.

I rread this book several decades ago as a child and remember it as a very matter-of-fact book with a good sense of humor. The author had lost her leg in a childhood accident and soon adapted so well to her one-legged that she refused her prosthesis as too cumbersome and, since she was an above the knee amputee, too limiting -- she danced much better without it. She mentioned the shoe-trading clubs popular during WWII where a right footed woman wearing size 8 would trade shoes with a left-footed woman and double her wardrobe. Sorry for the brevity, but those are what stick out, thatand the fact that she did find someone to love her, despite her fears to the contrary.