This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 11:47 am and is filed under Book Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
A word about “Louder than Words” & the rest of my overdue book reports.
Monday, March 31, 2008 posted by
comments (2)
[I don't want this to get buried in the comments: View Jenny on Larry King Live.]
I have SO many overdue posts to post! I had in mind a whole series of, like, book reviews. (I say “like” because I also want to include Dr. Pietzak’s DVD, Understanding Celiac Disease…, so it’s not just books.)
Anyway. Blogs are weird, the whole chronology thing throws me. If we ever get to the point where you can click on a Category to your right column, called Book Reviews, and get a list of them, the first ones I post will be at the bottom and the most recent on top. So really I want to review the OLDEST books first, ’cause that’s how they’ll be ordered on the page.
But of course I haven’t READ many of the oldest books - I mean, once we’re talking about gluten-intolerance we can hardly ignore autism. But if I review the celiac books first they’ll be pushed down to the bottom of the page when I later review the books on autism & the gf/cf diet.
So, this project has been waiting while I got recommendations on, ordered, and am currently reading a whole bunch of books on autism.
Human nature being what it is, when I got myself a whole bunch of books, what do I pull out first? Not Special Diets for Special Kids, which is the oldest book on the review list and the one that is holding up the entire project. (Against the Grain, by Jax Peters Lowell, is older and the very first gluten-free book I remember loving, but I’m going to review The Gluten-Free Bible instead, her newer & more up-to-date book.)
Do I? (Huh? What?) Do I pull out the oldest book? No, of course not. I have to pull out the newest book in the pile, Louder Than Words. My daughter Channa said, “Can I read that after you?” because she has heard of Jenny McCarthy, she’s into the whole “popular culture” thing. I ought to have given it to her, but selfishly I had to read that one first. “After me,” I agreed.
I started reading it. And I was gripped by her story. But at one point I went into the kitchen for a drink, and I passed Channa, and I said, “I take that back, Jenny McCarthy has a mouth from the gutter, and I do not want you reading that book until you are older.” (Channa, used to me after 13 years, just rolled her eyes and continued watching TV.)
Now I’ve finished the book I feel really bad. Because I spoke judgmentally about her without cause - I should have read a little more, I should have thought a little more. When the book opens up, it is as Jenny’s son is first having these horrifically scary seizures and they were getting zero help from the medical community and she was fighting for her son’s very life and sometimes gutter words were the absolutely correct ones.
As she found people who were able to help her, you see she doesn’t talk that way all the time. She’s a passionate woman in a desperate battle, facing some really bad sh*#. Jenny the brave; Jenny the fiercely determined; Jenny McCarthy is an excellent role model for my little girl.
So I will give the book to my daughter, but I’ll have a word with her first. I’ll explain how “You are a f***-ing idiot” may be an appropriate response to a doctor who isn’t listening to you, but maybe not such a good one for a math teacher. (Just an example — Thank G-d THAT’S never come up!)
***
Edited to say: And WHY did I just bore you with a pointless story about a book I won’t actually report on for months? In case there are any other prudish judgmental people reading this, who might also put the book down. (Come on, you know who you are, we were all at the Prude’s Anonymous meeting last Sunday!) DON’T DO IT. Rise above your teeny perspective for a few hours and stay with her. You will be rewarded.
Practically rewarded - at the end of the book she has what look to be amazing references.
Personally rewarded - she really does seem to be an admirable person. For example, she is very humble. She will tell you, over and over, “I am not a doctor. I can’t tell you how to treat your child. But many people have found X to be helpful.” “It’s good to be aware of the discussion about Y.” She knows her stuff, but she doesn’t force her views down anyone’s throat.
She says, “Most important, trust your instincts, and if something doesn’t feel right, ask questions.” Sounds good to me.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:28 am
Today 4/2/08 - just happens to be World Autism Day and Jenny will be on Larry King Live tonite -
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/larry.king.live/
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Ooo - Gina! Thanks for the tip! I’ll TIVO it!
***
Better than that — here’s the link to the recording on Larry King’s site:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/04/02/lkl.autism.long.cnn