From the days of childhood I am an avid reader. Reading is salvation to me. I go through pages after pages like a person whose life depends on reading the last line of the book. In this lifetime I have read numerous books, thousands. Few of them vanished the moment I finished the story. Few have made a permanent place in my heart.
Torn Apart by Hal Friedman and James Patterson is such a tale. The true story of a child’s struggle to return to a normal life after being shattered by Tourette syndrome, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety disorder, made me blink tears uncountable times. This non-fiction has all the twists and turns of a well plotted novel. The enthralling tale of suffering and defeat made me forget that I was reading a non-fiction.
When I started reading the story, I was going through a tough time myself. Life, all of a sudden, felt like a burden to me. Every morning I woke up with the question buzzing inside my head – is this life worth living? Tragically I could produce no answer to that question. This is the tale of another lifetime, one that I have lived and I have left behind. Whether I have won or fallen flat over my face defeated, I have no idea. I just don’t ask myself anything anymore. And yes, today I believe that life is worth living.
As I journeyed with the characters and experienced first hand the pain they had suffered and the strength they had displayed to conquer the setbacks, my own problems suddenly reduced before my eyes. I felt almost ashamed of the sulking and whining that I had done. I read the book crying and smiling at the same time. I cheered Cory whenever he overcame a drawback. I admired the courage of his father. I loved his mother when she stood by her son and faced the world. The fact that I also have got a mother like that made the affection even more real to me. I could connect with the mother and her pain.
After I finished the book, I sat silent for a long time, replaying the tale of struggle and success in my mind. I told myself the characters in the book were not the paper characters they were flesh and blood human beings. They had won because they refused to lose. They made it because they wanted to.
Sometimes reading becomes more than a pleasure trip. Sometimes reading holds you by hand the helps you cross the path, you dread the most. This is not a book review. There is nothing to write about the plot or the story. I don’t have anything to say about the writing either as James Patterson is a master storyteller and knows how to hold the reader by the neck till the story comes to an end.
Everyone who thinks there is no hope, not anymore anyways, should read this book once. Read it carefully and feel the pain. You will realize that even at the beginning of darkest dusk, there is still hope. And hope remains as long as you keep trying.
Read, discover and heal your scars. Live because life is beautiful……….
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