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 Essential Reading for Chronicly Ill & Loved Ones Jul 15, 2009
Richard M. Cohen's book Strong at the Broken Places: Voices of Illness, a Chorus of Hope should be required reading for anyone living with chronic illness, caring for or treating someone with a chronic illness or who loves someone with one.
Cohen, himself living with the degenerative effects of multiple sclerosis, shares the stories of five other people living with various illnesses and trying to carve out a meaningful life around their limitations.
Cohen spends astonishing amounts of time with each person, learning more about his or her experiences, challenges and fears. He has a gift for providing readers a window into the person behind the illness, disability, pain and isolation of chronic illness.
Because he can so easily relate to their experiences, Cohen is able to provide additional insight while reporting their stories and explaining their perspectives. I found myself nodding my head and placing a little marker to denote a particularly interesting point many times throughout the book. So many of the ideas presented will resonate with anyone who has been touched by chronic illness, regardless of the particular type you or your loved ones are living with.
The act of reading this kind of book is in itself a way of repairing the feeling of isolation and misunderstanding that so often accompanies the lives we live as chronically ill people. There is a lot here to digest and I know anyone who reads it will find something to relate to in each person profiled in it.
 Great insight Feb 13, 2009
As a person with chronic health, but having several family members and friends coping with chronic illnesses, I found Cohen's book full of compassion and understanding. It helped me examine my own attitudes, and sometimes lack of compassion, towards my loved ones. Advocacy is so important and this book puts it all in perspective. Thanks, Richard Cohen!
 Should have been better. Jan 14, 2009
I really wanted to like this book, but the reality is that I did not like it very much. I was so relieved when I finally finished it, and this was not due to the interesting subject matter. It was mainly because of the writing style of the author, Richard Cohen.
First, the five people selected to represent illness were fairly well chosen. After the first three, I realized that each seemed to illustrate a different level of acceptance or a different way of handling disease. Denise represented independence, Buzz faith, and Ben acceptance. Checking the contents verified this - sure enough, Denise was "Fighting for Control," Buzz was "Keeping the Faith," and Ben "Facing Down Demons." He moves onto Sarah "Seeking Normalcy," and Larry "Surviving Stigma." This is not an out and out criticism of the composition, as I might have composed it similarly. However, I wish that he had used shorter bios of more people, showing a wider range of how people deal with illness.
Secondly, I thought I'd go crazy reading the endless, mundane quotes. The deeper into the book, the more the author chose to use more quotes instead of paraphrasing. Often unimportant, normal facts, that should have been summed up in a sentence or two, would take a page. It felt like lazy writing.
This book had the potential to be great, but fell short. I wanted to like it, but just couldn't. Reading about disability or illness is tough for the reader, and an author has to handle it just right to make it palatable. Cohen didn't quite have the right ingredients.
Kudos to those featured in the book for their strength and courage, and to all others who are trying to live with debilitating illness.
Great resource for people with chronic or terminal illness Jul 10, 2008
"Strong at the Broken Places" is an excellent resource for anyone with a chronic or terminal illness, as well as for their family, caretakers, and friends. It really emphasizes the strength and perserverity of these five strong individuals. I highly recommend this book. Richard Cohen does a great job of emphasizing how important it is to treat the person, not just the illness or condition.
STRONG WORDS OF WISDOM AND INSIGHT Jun 25, 2008
I was drawn to this book because I admire how the author Richard continues his life as a brilliant journalist despite a chronic illness. And because last year for the first time I was in the hospital myself for several days unexpectedly.Yes, for the first time in my life it was me in the hospital bed. AND I realized how challenging it is just to be INSIDE the hospital, let alone think about dealing with a chronic illness and living a life of hope. You know sometimes it's tough to keep up hope every day. This book is like six different volumes in a way -- it tells the story of five different 'citizens of sickness' and then a collective meeting with them all. You will find it a) inspirational -- b) informational and it will live on in YOU. I keep thinking of Denise who as the author says traded an impossible challenge (of conquering ALS) with a rigorous task (going to Antartica to see the penguins) she could complete. How come we all don't make plans to see the penguins or whatever it is that symbolizes our own vision in life? Each story of each person is more poignant than the other. This is not sniveling stuff-- it's real and not all nicey nice either. But it is fascinating to see how these people including the author turn their anger into fuel to keep going. Richard talks straight to you with his writing. I often feel like I'm sitting in a coffee shop or yes, a bar having a beer with this guy...he's honest. IT'S NOT EASY...heck it's really TOUGH and other words that won't get pass the Amazon cyber censors. BUT it is inspiring to thing that we may all be strong at our own broken places. Too often those of us from challenging families or who face chronic illness, pain or other obstacles feel 'defective' because of our difference. The author shows how to channel that into strength. This is a great book for anyone going through a life transition -- divorce or a major move or graduation or starting a new venture. For it is in the challenges that we discover opportunities. ENJOY -- every parent, every therapist, every doctor, every counselor and everyone into self-improvement will want to read these real words.
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