Tuesday 11 October 2016

Read in 2016 - 35: Me Again

If you have been reading my book reviews for a while, you'll know that I often criticize the bad quality of some of the free ebooks I come across. Of course, it is always up to me to finish them or not, and you could argue that it serves me right for being so stingy and focusing on free reading material instead of spending money on proper books. You do have a point there, you know.

On the other hand, more than once I have come across really good books by skilled writers, taking advantage of them offering their works for free for a limited period of time.

"Me Again" by Keith Cronin is definitely one of those gems.

In spite of its serious topic, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and felt with the characters - nearly all of them, really.


To summarize, the novel is about a young man who suffers a stroke, falls into a coma and - against all odds - wakes up 6 years later. He has to re-learn even the most basic human skills, and at the same time come to terms with near total memory loss. His family, friends and colleagues have all moved on, as nobody expected him to wake up again, and they all have to cope with the new, changed man.


As Jonathan regains his linguistic and physical abilities, he begins to understand that the man he used to be was not a very nice person. But was he responsible for a crime? And what is the big secret everyone seems to be trying to hide from him, something that happened in his childhood?

How is his friendship with a fellow stroke victim, a young woman, going to develop once she gets out of hospital and returns to her husband?


Jonathan's struggle to regain his body and mind - his life, really - is described very well and, in my eyes, realistically. I have limited personal experience with strokes in my family and the circle of my parents' friends, but it was mostly people much older than the characters in this story. The little I do know about strokes and how hard stroke victims (and their loved ones) are affected made me at first believe the story was autobiographical.


It isn't, but I am sure the author did his research very, very thoroughly. He has his own website here - and I am impressed by the fact that 25 % of the book's proceeds go to the American Stroke Association.

The writing is really good, and the editor(s) and/or proofreader(s) did a good job, too. The characters and what they go through in the course of the story is plausible, and often touching without being cheesy.


If you can get hold of this book, I highly recommend it. It's not just about stroke victims getting their lives back. It's just as much about what a person can (or should) realistically expect from life, who we want to be, no less.

Should I find other books by Cronin, I want to read them.

8 comments:

  1. This plot sounds great. I am very careful before buying or getting for free a self published book, print or ebook. I read reviews on Amazon first, sometimes reviewers will warn you off (too many typos, whatever) and sometimes people love the book and I get it.

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    1. I hardly ever look at other people's reviews before I download a book, but I like to compare notes after I've read it. Funnily enough, even with the books I consider almost unreadable (for poor writing, bad editing, unconvinceable characters etc.), there are still readers giving them 5 stars and commenting on how "great" it was... Maybe they are personal friends of the author, but even so, they should be honest.

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  2. My second comment: are you on Facebook? I am a member on FB of We Love Memoirs and every Friday they post a list of free ebooks that are memoirs, some funny, some serious, some travel related. They link to the US and UK Amazon pages.

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    1. Thank you for pointing out that list to me, Terra, but I am not on Facebook.

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  3. The “librarian with secrets” was kind enough to contact me about this review, and I’m delighted to see that she enjoyed my story. I also appreciate the fact that she pointed out that it is NOT just a tear-jerking story about medical tragedy. I always have a hard time convincing people that there’s actually a lot of humor in this story - but that’s because I’ve always found humor to be a powerful mechanism for dealing with the problems we face.

    Thanks, Ms. Librarian, for reviewing my book and sharing it with your friends. I’m working on something new right now, so I hope you’ll eventually have something else to read from me!

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    1. Dear Keith Cronin, Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my message, read my review and leave a comment - it is such an honour!
      There is indeed a lot of humour in "Me Again". Jonathan is an acute observer of himself and his environment, and some of his remarks - mostly in his mind, but sometimes spoken out loud - are priceless.

      A new book? I'll definitely keep looking out for it!

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  4. Thanks thanks for that. My hubby researches into stroke, I have suggested he reads this

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    1. You are welcome, John. I hope your hubby likes the book as much as I did - that's a good way of doing research, I think, reading something you actually enjoy.

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