In This Altered Body: A Survivor's Story of Resilience and Love By Pell, Charlene
In this moving, vulnerable memoir, Pell offers an enduring contribution to the testimony of human resilience by recounting her experience as a burn survivor. Pell begins her story of a "normal" day in 1994 with her fiance, Roger, in their temporary home on Cat Island in the Bahamas, as they enjoyed a vacation from work. But, they're caught in a harrowing accident when their private plane, piloted by Roger, crashes upon landing, leaving 64% of Pell's body burned. Devastatingly, Roger did not survive. The recovery that follows is tense and moving, as months turn into years of reconstructive surgeries, therapies, rehabilitation, and discoveries ("music became the one medication that truly soothed my seared spirit and body") as Pell finds not only her physical self but the whole of her spirit forever altered.
Telling the story with visceral language and potent photographs, Pell stirs in readers the beyond-imaginable pain of her burns. "I was unaware of time or space. Sand went deep into my seared flesh and open wounds," she writes of her escape from the crash. She also digs deep to articulate the complex feelings that came with her long recovery: the demoralizing loss of agency over her life, the guilt of feeling like a burden, a longing for intimacy, the insecurity of losing a hard-earned career, the grief of losing her fiance, and the debilitating sense that she had lost her womanhood and her perceived attractiveness. She writes, with uncommon candor, "As the days and weeks passed, I felt like a mutant amidst a planet of 'normal-looking' people."
Pell's bold, inspiring memoir challenges readers ot deeper empathy and to confront preconceived notions and biases about disfigurement. Despite being shaken by people's stares as well as their refusal to look, Pell compels readers to peer beyond the skin to see the resilience of survivors who have not only reclaimed their beauty and independence but also rediscovered their identity and purpose.
Takeaway: Bold, inspiring testimony of resilience in the face of burns.
Comparable Titles: Lucy Grealy's Autobiography of a Face, J.R. Martinez's Full of Heart. Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A Illustrations: A
Editing: A Marketing copy: A-