Love, Greg & Lauren (Hardcover)

by Greg Manning (Author) "First of all, I want to thank all of you, and all of the others to whom you speak about Lauren..." (more)
Key Phrases: gray scrubs, percent burn, pressure garments, Burn Center, Everyone Date, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
The heartbreaking yet heartwarming story of one of the World Trade Center survivors. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description
Early on the morning of September 11, 2001, Lauren Manning-a wife, the mother of a ten-month-old son, and a senior vice president and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald-came to work, as always, at One World Trade Center. As she stepped into the lobby, a fireball exploded from the elevator shaft, and in that split second her life was changed forever.

Lauren was burned over 82.5 percent of her body. As he watched his wife lie in a drug-induced coma in the ICU of the Burn Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Greg Manning began writing a daily journal. In the form of e-mails to family, friends, and colleagues, he recorded Lauren’s harrowing struggle-and his own tormented efforts to make sense of an act that defies all understanding. This book is that e-mail diary: detailed, intimate, inspiring messages that end, always, as if a prayer for a happy outcome:

LOVE, GREG & LAUREN

We share this story day by astonishing day. Greg writes of the intricate surgeries, the painful therapies, and the constant risk of infection Lauren endured. Through his eyes we come to know the doctors, nurses, aides, and therapists who cared for her around the clock with untiring devotion and sensitivity. We also come to know the families with whom he shared wrenching hospital vigils for their own loved ones who were waging a battle that some would not win.

It was, most of all, Greg’s belief that Lauren would win her brave fight for life that kept him writing. Through his eyes we see what she could not-their toddler’s first steps, the video of his first birthday party, the compassionate messages of hope from around the world. And we are there as Lauren gradually emerges into awareness, signaling first with her eyes, then with smiles, her understanding of the words Greg speaks to her, the poems he recites, the songs he plays.

Most miraculously, we are there when Lauren walks out of the Burn Center.

The world knows all too well both the nightmare and the heroism that have marked this terrible time in history. But no account of September 11 matches the astonishing personal story Greg Manning records in these spontaneous and heartfelt pages. It is a story that invites us to share, e-mail after e-mail, the perilous course of a mortally wounded woman who by sheer will and courage emerges from near death because she is determined to live for her husband and her son. And it is equally the story of a man who, as he stays by her side through these long weeks and months, discovers anew the depth of his love and admiration for the woman who becomes his hero.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1st Printing edition (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553802976
• ISBN-13: 978-0553802979
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,154,868 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EMOTIONAL CHARGED FROM START TO FINISH, March 8, 2002

By	Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An inspiring love story from our most tragic day..., March 5, 2002

By	David Halpert (La Quinta, CA) - See all my reviews

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.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed, moving account of one family's recovery from 9/11, March 4, 2002

By	Laurie D. T. Mann (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

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.