BOOK REVIEW: Better Than Before
by Angela DiCicco
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ABOUT THE BOOKS (from Amazon):
“I think I broke my back.” In an instant, your world can turn upside down. One minute packing for an anniversary trip, the next minute the phone call that changes your life. Spinal cord injury. Paraplegic. What happens after a tragic accident? Family ties are tried, a marriage already on shaky ground is tested to its limits. Better Than Before is an account of a couple whose world changed in a single phone call. Told by a wife and caregiver, Better Than Before documents one woman’s autobiographical journey from the shock of her husband’s motorcycle accident to renewed faith, a stronger marriage, and newfound confidence in herself.
Anyone who has experienced tragedy or a troubled relationship will relate to the author’s grief, pain and roller coaster ride of emotions.
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Angela DiCicco, the author of Better Than Before, reached out and asked me to review her book. She sent me a free copy in exchange for my honest review, so here it is…
What a tragic story! You can’t help but put yourself in Angela’s shoes while you’re reading it—the perspective of the spouse of someone who, suddenly, will never walk again. What about that vacation we had planned? How are we doing to make our mortgage payment? How do I now juggle the regular demands of life plus now caring for you?!
I couldn’t stop thinking about the book or re-telling the story to other people while I was reading it. I definitely felt connected with Angela and her struggles as she tells her story with brutal honesty and raw emotion.
Although I enjoyed the book, there are two pieces of constructive feedback I would give the author:
- There are some parts that are repetitive; things that get said more than once. A simple review from an editor should catch these repetitions as well as a few (minor) grammatical errors.
- I would have liked to be more convinced in the end that things were “better than before.” There’s a huge emphasis throughout the book on the impact the accident had on the author and her struggle for months afterward. Toward the end, I kept wondering when we were going to experience the transformation in their marriage or the silver lining. It’s there, briefly, but it left me wondering if there could have been a better title for the book to capture what the reader truly experiences.
It’s hard for me to say who I would recommend this book to. I’ve never experienced such a tragedy, so I don’t know if it would be comforting or triggering for someone who has. I think if you enjoy drama and real-life stories, you might like this one.