Customer Reviews

Love, Greg & Lauren

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I cannot believe that there is anyone out there whose life was not touched in some way by the horrific events of September 11, 2001. Whether one was a victim, a family member, a friend, a rescue worker or simply a citizen watching the event from your own little corner of the world, you will probably never forget the tragedy.

Through Lauren Manning, a victim of the World Trade Centre disaster, we get an inside, close-up view of just how her life was instantly changed. With burns to over eight percent of her body, Lauren's strong will, determination and love for her family overcame all obstacles. Through her husband Greg's eyes, we see the true meaning of true love, compassion, support, unfaltering faith and encouragement.

Readers will not be able to read this book without shedding a tear for Lauren, Greg and their son. Each of us has our own trials and tribulations to overcome, but when one compares day-to-day challenges in life to Greg's and Lauren's most of our own problems somehow seem less imminent and signigicant. This emotionally-charged book is well-written and is also a beautiful tribute to all those who aided in Lauren's recovery - five stars from beginning to end!

Lauren and Greg Manning both worked in the WTC, and both were running a little late to work on 9/11. Luckily, Lauren did not get to her office at Cantor Fitzgerald that morning. Unforunately, Lauren was hit by the fireball in World Trade Center One as she entered the lobby and was burned over 80% of her body.

Greg began writing of Lauren's struggle to recover in a series of E-mail letters to friends in the weeks following. The book has great immediacy as it was Greg's unedited account of his daily visits to the hospital to support Lauren through her months of healing. He wrote movingly about his need to talk to Lauren during her many weeks of drug-induced coma, his concerns for their young son, and how Lauren has to adapt to a very different life.

The book veers from the harrowing to the mundane. Burn treatment is a painful, lengthy process, and many seriously burned people die from complications. Lauren was able to recover and walk out of the hospital (and into a rehabilitation center for more treatment) in early December.

Highly recommended.

My wife purchased this book after seeing the author and his wife on TV. She made the mistake of leaving it lying around the house. I got to it before she did and couldn't put it down. A little over 2 days later I was done. This is a must read for anyone wanting to learn more about how the people that were affected by Sept 11 had to cope. The only thing that I wish would happen is that the author would write a sequel letting us know how their life turns out.

A truly heroic tale from the congeries of the author's daily writings about one of the few seriously injured survivors of the deadly World Trade Center attacks on September 11. Lauren's fortitude and intransigence staring death down outlasted the almost insuperable odds. It is a true story of the adrenaline that love engenders in overcoming human tragedy. The author (Lauren's husband) is enormously talented and his prolific prose captures the pith of the human experience. Every American whose life was deeply affected by the events of September 11 must read this compelling narrative of a true miracle; the recovery and the struggle of a victim to return to her simple quotidian routines.

The author's description of the shifting medical prognoses and the seemingly relentless surgical procedures, as well as the recounting of other survivors' experiences are both harrowing and enthralling. His editorials on the attacks and of the ensuing relevant events offer a unique birds-eye view from one deeply affected by the maelstrom of it all. Kudos to Mr Manning for sharing his story with us.

I wept while reading Greg Manning's honest, brutal, genuine, and always heartwarming account of his wife Lauren's difficult but amazing road to recovery. There is never a hint of self pity. Even in the lowest moments of despair, this family has found an incredible and overwhelming mix of courage, hope, and love to fight the biggest battle of all -- the survival and restoration of the human spirit.
This is a story of hope and resilience while every day facing unbearable loss, tremendous obstacles, and the constant reminders of what was, and what could have been. Yet every day, Lauren and Greg make the choice to embrace their new course of life. They constantly revel in how lucky, grateful, appreciative, and blessed they truly are.
Love, Greg & Lauren deeply touches and inspires in ways that force us to examine our own lives and gives a new, welcome perspective in the face of great adversity.

I could not put this book down, once I started reading. I was so anxious to see what the next e-mail would say, I read through the whole night, barely stopping for a break.

The courage Greg Manning had, to not only be with his wife every step of the way, but also balance time with his son and all the other responsibilities he had, and being so afraid of what the next hour could bring, was inspirational. The faith this man has, is amazing.

Then, to spend time every day, giving everybody the update, was exceptionally unselfish on his part. This was the worst possible time in his life, and he still rose above his grief, to see that everybody had the latest information.

This man clearly loves his wife and son, and wanted whatever was best for everybody, and those e-mails clearly showed that. I do not know the Mannings, but I shed many a tear for them throughout the book, as well as during the two Oprah shows that have been done with them.

I am so inspired by Lauren's courage to survive, and Greg's constant presence had so much to do with that, I cannot see how anybody could come away from this book, untouched.

I like the fact that he took the time to shed some light on what happens on a burn unit and reflect on how much the doctors and nurses really cared about the patients there. He also took the time to touch on some of the other lives that hung in the balance on the unit. He was obviously touched by all that he experienced, and that came through in the book.

I would very highly recommend this book for anybody who needs to be inspired to get through difficult times. The dignity and grace the Mannings have, is something to be admired, and I am so appreciative that Mr. Manning decided to share that with the world.

Thank you, Greg & Lauren, for sharing the struggles of your very lives with us. You didn't have to publish the e-mails, you could have kept your lives private and safe from scrutiny and shallow judgements, but you didn't, and I personally thank you from the bottom of my heart. You have forever touched my life.

I am just about done with this book and I cannot accurately describe the emotions that I felt while reading it.

I just got engaged last week and I have tried putting myself in Greg's situation and I know that I would do the same thing.

This is probably the first of a long string of books that will be released showing the human side of 9-11 but I don't think any future book will have the same impact as this one does.

Read it, then share your thoughts with your loved one.

A cottage industry of Sept. 11 books is now under construction. Most will cover the same horrific ground. Some will advance our understanding of events leading to the attacks, others might suggest courses of action and new perspectives for a post-9/11 world.

None will have the power of this book. Love Greg & Lauren is being promoted first and foremost as a love story and rightly so. But it is also literature of the first order, in the same way that Samuel Pepys's diaries of London in the time of plague and fire were, as a real-time transcript of people caught in the crosshairs of history. Moreover, it follows the edict of great factual narrative: Report Truly and Well.

This Greg Manning does, in a book notable for its honesty and its eye for detail. The Mannings' lives were changed irrevocably that day, and just the sheer cruel swing of fortune takes your breath away: Greg is late to work and so survives, though most of his colleagues die, while Lauren, despite not being at her desk in the doomed Cantor Fitzgerald offices, is engulfed by a fireball anyway.

The grim tally of the thousands who died that day excludes the far smaller group of attack victims who lived but required hospitalization. And few of those hospitalized were as badly injured as Lauren Manning.

These daily emails are dispatches from a front line lived out over months in a place past the headlines -- a burn unit that, as Greg writes, became "Sub Zero" for the families who were frozen in place praying for their loved ones' recovery and insulated from the swirl of events beyond the hospital doors.

At times, the dispatches are dry eyed and clinical, patiently explaining the complicated yet fascinating recovery process for burn victims. But they also include a widening circle of individuals and events, life in a Manhattan remade by 9/11. Greg's description of his visit to Ground Zero three weeks after the attacks is particularly memorable.

Even so, the letters are restrained and almost laconic; they merely describe the events and actions, never telling you how to feel. And the humor -- yes, there is humor -- is playful and sly. It all makes for great reading, with several dramatic swings, even though we know how things turn out. Indeed, it's the daily reports of how Lauren claws her way to recovery that give this book its power. When Lauren, weeks in a medicated coma, first speaks, it's absolutely transporting.

Those posters who don't like Love, Greg and Lauren are entitled to their opinions, but their reasonings are curiously incomplete. One says the book wouldn't have been published if not for its connection to Sept. 11. Yes, and your point would be?
Another says the book should have covered other issues, but never says what those are.

And for those who feel it somewhat problematic that the Mannings are comparatively well-heeled (or were before the hospital bills), well, that's the thing about history. It rarely selects its chroniclers according to our wishes. As it is, we are very fortunate that Greg Manning is so gifted a writer. Day by day, he produced a book that is both a sweetly intimate account and a document for the ages. Well done.

Reading about Lauren's determination, motivation, and sheer will to live via Greg's eloquent prose is touching and heartwarming! Greg's love for his wife is evident, as is her love for him, and their son!
Lauren's story is a true testament to the human spirit at its best. Her courage and strength of conviction make me want to be a better person. She inspired me!
This book is not a tearjerker - quite the opposite. It is a book about love, strength, and the power to put something senseless and evil behind you for the best reason in the world - your family, and even more importantly, for yourself!
As I've written, Lauren is an inspiration! Don't miss this book - it is more than worth the read - it is one giant step toward the courage that we need to fight back against terror!

This book is a truly inspirational read. I haven't quite finished yet, but with every page comes more heart. I, like most others that have or will read this book, feel such an emotional draw to both Greg and Lauren, and my heart breaks over everything they went through. Reading this book not only instills a new found hope, but also a new understanding of what exactly it was like to have been in the shoes of people who were through so much and lost so much that terrible day 9/11/2001.

On a side note, the link that Greg mentions in one of his emails (politicsandprotest.com)is unfortunately no longer a valid link. FYI it will take you to a Penthouse site. Oops, I guess that's what happens after time. :(