Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life [Hardcover]

Samantha Dunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0805065857 | ISBN-13: 978-0805065855 | Edition: 1st

A nearly fatal riding accident forces a young woman to examine just what it is inside herself-and other people-that invites carelessness and injury.

"God touches us with a feather to get our attention. Then, if we don't listen, he starts throwing bricks."

While leading her horse across a narrow creek in the canyons of California, Samantha Dunn suffered a life-threatening accident as her horse inadvertently jumped on her leg, splitting it open and severing vital muscles and veins. Had a stranger not happened upon the scene, it's doubtful she would have survived.

This wasn't the first such incident-although it was the most serious-in a life filled with carelessness, risk-taking, and injuries. In this reflective yet humorous memoir, Dunn takes the reader through the stages of her long and painful recovery, the most important of which involved serious self-examination. A pattern of accidents, she learned, indicates other deeper issues bubbling below the surface. This last, near-fatal episode was a subconscious wake-up call to pay attention to everything she had been looking away from: her horse, who had shown clear signs of panic, and especially her complicated past and home life-including her seriously troubled marriage.

Dunn got back on the horse-literally and figuratively. How she did it makes for an entertaining, touching, and insightful book, memoir at its best.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These two engaging memoirs by California freelance journalists demonstrate how lives, family, and friends change after serious accidents. Thrown and trampled by her horse, Dunn (Failing Paris) survived with a badly fractured leg requiring extensive reconstructive surgery and the threat of future infection and amputation. As she convalesces, she candidly reviews her life and reflects on what it means to be accident-prone. Is this calamity not the first, but the most serious just a coincidence, or does it indicate something deeper that needs to be examined? Barely able to walk again, she takes up yoga, explores complementary therapies, and embarks on a path of emotional and physical healing. Dunn concludes that her accidents were an unconscious message telling her that she did not care enough about herself and her future. She returns to writing, divorces her husband, gets back on her horse (literally), and survives a second fall. Both active sports enthusiasts, Parker and her retired scientist-husband, Ralph, were planning to move to Colorado when he was knocked off his bicycle and paralyzed from the neck down. In a series of short essays that first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and other publications, Parker candidly relates the fears and frustrations of learning to be a primary caregiver for a quadriplegic. Friends desert her, but colorful Momma Scott and her African American neighbors step in to lend emotional support. Two live-in personal attendants, an ex-con, and a Tibetan immigrant form an unconventional household centered on caring for Ralph and for one another. With humor, Parker spares no details describing the personal routines; the clashes of class, culture, and caregiving; and her delights in new friends and small pleasures. Both books are recommended for public libraries. Lucille M. Boone, San Jose P.L., CA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Dunn lived for the feeling of wind blowing in her hair and the powerful intoxication of her horse's steady gallop. A tug of Harley's leathery reins could instantly eradicate mounting bills, unfinished work, and the reality of a troubled marriage from her mind. On a fateful ride into California's picturesque canyons, Samantha dismounted to lead her reluctant horse across a stream when Harley's knee knocked her to the ground and his hoofs mangled her body as he reared back and forth in a state of heightened panic. With her leg nearly detached in the accident and a grueling recuperation process ahead of her, Dunn analyzes the details of her life and her propensity for accidents. Could there be some underlying emotional reason she was always putting her life in danger, or was she just accident-prone? Despite her memoir's painful subject matter, Dunn never loses her delightful sense of humor as she fearlessly probes the inner workings of her mind. An inspirational lesson in hope and conviction in the face of adversity. Elsa Gaztambide
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805065857
• ISBN-13: 978-0805065855
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,584,368 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Samantha Dunn is the author of Failing Paris, a finalist for the PEN West Fiction Award, as well as the memoirs Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life, a BookSense 76 pick, and Faith in Carlos Gomez: A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation, which has been in development at Lifetime Television.

Samantha's essays have appeared in numerous national publications including the Los Angeles Times, O (Oprah) Magazine, Ms., and Shape. In 2000 she received the Maggie Award for Best Personal Essay in a Consumer Publication. A widely published journalist, her bylines are regularly featured in InStyle, Glamour, SELF, Men's Health and a variety of other consumer magazines.

Samantha's work is anthologized in a number of places, including Cherished, edited by Barbara Abercrombie; The Time of My Life, edited by Rob Spillman; Damage Control, edited by Emma Forrest; and Another City, edited by David Ulin. She also created and co-edited the short story anthology, Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles (Toby Press).

She has also written for the stage and television, and is a member of the writers Guild of America. A writer-in-residence for many years at the New York State Summer Writers Institute, Samantha now teaches memoir and personal essay in the UCLA Extension Writers Program, and is an active supporter of many PEN USA programs.

She lives in Southern California with her husband, musician/politico Jimmy Camp and their son, Benen. Visit her website at www.samanthadunn.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring first hand account of recovering from an accident, March 3, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life (Hardcover)

In an isolated part of California, Samantha Dunn was leading her horse Harley across a creek when her steed accidentally stomped on her leg. The injury was severe enough to threaten her life as she suffered splintered bones, ripped muscles and torn veins. Samantha's luck changed when a passerby happened to find her.

While physically recuperating and going through various mental stages of recovery, Samantha reflected back on her three-decade plus life. She concludes that her long string of accidents are not really bad luck misfortunes, but something with much deeper underlying causes that make her ignore signs of potential trouble like her panic stricken horse that stepped on her. Eventually Samantha not only gets back on Harley, but she picks herself up personally as she now knows she is a good person with much too offer.

NOT BY ACCIDENT: RECONSTRUCTING A CARELESS LIFE is a great first hand account of recovering from a near-fatal accident that inspires the audience. Samantha Dunn learns that riding horses for pleasure is a lot different than riding to escape life. She concludes that life is too precious to carelessly destroy it. As Lou Costello once said "97% of all accidents occur to 3% of the people". Ms. Dunn encourages those 3% frequent accident victims to reflect on why this happens and how to live life fully, but not negligently. Besides animal lovers and repeat accident victims, readers who enjoy an uplifting didactic account will want to peruse this introspective nonfiction.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Uncommon grace, March 6, 2002

By 

John D. Buksbazen "daishin" (Santa Monica, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life (Hardcover)

Much has been made of catastrophic events which change a person's life, and this memoir is certainly all of that. But it is also far more.

In a voice as honest as the unsentimental New Mexico sky of her childhood and adolescence, Dunn shares with us her matrix of relationships with family, friends, mentors, and perhaps most of all with her horse, Harley, who emerges as all of these.

Following on the heels of her novel, Failing Paris, this account of a woman discovering her courage in the wake of grave injury hints at a thread of richly personal narrative well begun, and with important promise for the future.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put it Down..., June 15, 2002

By 

kittie (Cliff Island, Maine United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life (Hardcover)

I happened upon Not By Accident, at a yard sale of all things. This was a very lucky find. Samantha Dunn is an incredibly talented writer. Her story is courageous, honest, and intelligent. Her stoic and quirky humor propelled me on with an odd curiosity, only to watch her become vulnerable and naked in her healing process as well as her writing. I loved her internal musings and mental wanderings, it made me feel less alone, as though I were a part of a greater whole. I have recommended this book to many people and plan to read Failing Paris, if this is any example of what Samantha Dunn is capable of, I'm there.