By My Side - Alice Peterson
Published: 18/07/13
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 372
I pride myself on being someone who is completely open to meeting all kinds of people who face all kinds of physical or mental challenges in their lives but for some reason I was scared of reading this book. I think it was because I know I’d feel guilty at how much of my life I take for granted. Even climbing up the stairs or being able to go to the toilet myself is something I am sure everyone takes for granted. One of my biggest fears is becoming dependent on other people so I found this a tough read.
However, whilst this book tackles disability head on and opens your eyes to a world that is often quite difficult to get a look into, it is a true love story between one woman and her dog.
Cass is living the proper student life; drinking, partying and having lazy sex with her boyfriend Sean on weekends. One morning she rushes out to get breakfast but ends up being hit by a truck and Cass has to face life being paralysed from the waist down. All she can envisage is a life in wheel chair with no one to ever love her again and no one to ever take her seriously. That is until she meets Ticket. He’s a gorgeous dog who is trained to help Cass with day to day tasks such as turning off lights and helping her shop. Ticket and Cass are a match made in heaven and soon Cass is so excited about what lies before her and her trusty dog. Throughout this book Cass also meets other disabled people, a good looking ski instructor and en ex-military man who all show her what its like to be alive again.
Cass was an AMAZING character and despite my fears of not being able to relate to her, I found myself imagining her situation so easily thanks to Alice’s writing. At times I cried because I was so frustrated and angry on her behalf at not being ‘normal’ but at times I cheered and felt a great sense of pride when she stood up for herself and her disability.
My favourite character by far though was Ticket. He was the star of this book and reading about him made me want a dog of my own! I loved how loyal he was to Cass and how quickly they formed an irreplaceable bond. I am in awe of people who manage to train dogs to be such great helpers. The only thing is that I wished Ticket had more of a mention in the book, he is present a lot of the time but I would love to have read about all his little quirks, he was the character I fell in love with!
Alice has clearly done a lot of research for this book and has written it with such compassion and understanding that the emotion spills off of the pages. I imagine that anyone who reads this story, disabled or not, will be touched by it and will feel lucky that they could live in Cass’ world for a few hours.
This book took me no time at all to read and I would seriously recommend you pre-order it now!
I will never take for granted the simple things in life again.
Such a touching and beautifully written book.
Publisher: Quercus
Pages: 372
I pride myself on being someone who is completely open to meeting all kinds of people who face all kinds of physical or mental challenges in their lives but for some reason I was scared of reading this book. I think it was because I know I’d feel guilty at how much of my life I take for granted. Even climbing up the stairs or being able to go to the toilet myself is something I am sure everyone takes for granted. One of my biggest fears is becoming dependent on other people so I found this a tough read.
However, whilst this book tackles disability head on and opens your eyes to a world that is often quite difficult to get a look into, it is a true love story between one woman and her dog.
Cass is living the proper student life; drinking, partying and having lazy sex with her boyfriend Sean on weekends. One morning she rushes out to get breakfast but ends up being hit by a truck and Cass has to face life being paralysed from the waist down. All she can envisage is a life in wheel chair with no one to ever love her again and no one to ever take her seriously. That is until she meets Ticket. He’s a gorgeous dog who is trained to help Cass with day to day tasks such as turning off lights and helping her shop. Ticket and Cass are a match made in heaven and soon Cass is so excited about what lies before her and her trusty dog. Throughout this book Cass also meets other disabled people, a good looking ski instructor and en ex-military man who all show her what its like to be alive again.
Cass was an AMAZING character and despite my fears of not being able to relate to her, I found myself imagining her situation so easily thanks to Alice’s writing. At times I cried because I was so frustrated and angry on her behalf at not being ‘normal’ but at times I cheered and felt a great sense of pride when she stood up for herself and her disability.
My favourite character by far though was Ticket. He was the star of this book and reading about him made me want a dog of my own! I loved how loyal he was to Cass and how quickly they formed an irreplaceable bond. I am in awe of people who manage to train dogs to be such great helpers. The only thing is that I wished Ticket had more of a mention in the book, he is present a lot of the time but I would love to have read about all his little quirks, he was the character I fell in love with!
Alice has clearly done a lot of research for this book and has written it with such compassion and understanding that the emotion spills off of the pages. I imagine that anyone who reads this story, disabled or not, will be touched by it and will feel lucky that they could live in Cass’ world for a few hours.
This book took me no time at all to read and I would seriously recommend you pre-order it now!
I will never take for granted the simple things in life again.
Such a touching and beautifully written book.
Laura