Saturday, February 13, 2016

Review: Beautiful Affliction

Beautiful Affliction Beautiful Affliction by Lene Fogelberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

1 in every 100 babies is born with a congenital heart defect. It's also one of the most deadly - 15% won't live to see their 18th birthday. Lene Fogelberg clearly was on a quest to defy odds.

Ms Fogelberg went undiagnosed for nearly 30 years, she knew something was wrong but doctors wouldn't listen to her, and finally an unexpected employment transfer from Sweden to the United States was what saved her life.

As a mother of a CHD kid, this was an emotional story. Open heart surgery is necessary but scary and risky, even now. Anything can go wrong, and with Ms Fogelberg, it almost did.

Her writing is powerful and compassionate.

My only complaint: her narrative is told in flash back sequences, and they became extremely repetitive -- a constant reflection on how tired, fatigued, she was growing up into adulthood.

Otherwise an excellent survivor story.





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