Eyes to the wind

Eyes to the wind: a memoir of love and death, hope and resistance / Ady Barkan, read by Bradley Whitford, 281 pages

I picked this up not realizing that Ady Barkan is a well known political activist and social justice warrior.  Diagnosed with ALS at age 32, this is also a memoir of dealing with the physical issues related to the disease that is incurable.  Not wanting to give up on the work he was doing, he expanded his scope to include healthcare initiatives and the importance of continuing many of the provisions of Obamacare.  I enjoyed hearing about Fed-up, a campaign to reform the Federal Reserve.  Bradley Whitford narrates and does a good job.  Recommended to anyone interested in political resistance or even just finding meaning in life.

Last things

Last things: a graphic memoir of loss and love / Marissa Moss, 173 pgs.

A personal story of the author's struggles when her husband was diagnosed with a very fast moving type of ALS. The struggle to cope with the diagnosis is made worse by the speed of decline.  With three young sons, the world is turned upside down very quickly.  The reaction of the author and her husband were very different.  He refused to accept help and threw himself into finishing his life long project, a scholarly book that he had been working on for sixteen years.  The book took priority over his family and that decision left a lot of hurt for years to come.  Of course the author knew her husband loved her and the kids but just couldn't deal with the situation.  However, the kids were too young to understand. This is one of those stories you hope to never be able to relate to very closely.  Beautifully done.

Every note played

Every note played / Lisa Genova, read by Dagmara Dominczyk & Dennis Boutsikaris 307 pgs.

Richard is a successful concert pianist who has life by the tail until he has problems playing to his potential.  Eventually he is diagnosed with ALS and begins a quick decent into a health hell that leaves him unable to play, unable to use his hands at all and eventually unable to walk.  Unlike his professional success, his personal life is kind of a mess.  He is divorced from Karina and they did not split amicably.  His daughter Grace and he don't really speak and he knows he hasn't been a good father.  When living alone becomes impossible, he ends up back with his ex-wife who, despite her hatred of him, ends up taking care of him.  Taken by surprise by illness, Richard had never planned for something like this and can't afford the care that he needs.  Somehow he Karina heal their broken relationship and both see their own faults instead of just blaming the other for their problems.  A realistic depiction of a horrible disease.  The narrators take turns telling the story of each of the main characters.  Memorable.

Spy of the First Person

Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard  82 pp.

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and actor, Sam Shepard died in July of 2017 due to complications of ALS. He began working on this book a year earlier, first writing by hand and then recording his words for his family to transcribe. Before he died his friend, Patti Smith, helped him with editing. It was published posthumously. The book is a collection of vignettes and short chapters that comprise memoir, commentary on his condition, and observations of "the man in the rocker on the porch". The man Shepard describes is actually himself dealing with the gradual physical deterioration caused by his disease. The memoir parts are random and interspersed in the observations of the "porch man". This is a touching, if somewhat confusing effort of a talented man at the end of his life. (Note: the cover photo is not of Sam Shepard.)

Too Cool to be Forgotten

Too Cool to be Forgotten by Alex Robinson  125 pp.

Andy, a middle-aged man, makes one final attempt to quit smoking by undergoing hypnosis. But he is startled to find himself back in high school, re-living all the awkwardness and problems he lived through at age 15. He keeps a slim connection to the present while facing his life as a teen. Finally he realizes the hypnotist has sent him back to the time he had his first cigarette and is sure that when he turns down that cigarette his smoking problem will be cured. But he doesn't return from being a teen-ager because he has one more thing he has to deal with. I didn't realize until I'd nearly finished the book that each chapter bears the title of a popular song from the 1980s.

This is the first graphic novel of Robinson's that I actually completed. The others, Box Office Poison and Tricked, I just couldn't get into. Frankly I wasn't impressed with his work. However, this book held my attention.