Leigh reviewed Blindsided : Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir on + 378 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
A readable account of Mr. Cohen's rise in the journalism field coinciding with his physical demise due to MS. It's incredibly sad and a few scenes will stick with you pretty vividly; namely, one where he "tricks" a nurse during a physical exam. Above all else, you'll feel Cohen's sense of determination - not even a degenerative illness and a wheelchair can hold this man back. Recommended for biography lovers and anyone who needs a renewal of faith in the human spirit.
Tish O. (tish) - reviewed Blindsided : Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir on + 384 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
if you have a chronic illness or if you are caring for someone with one,this is a must read. the author is difficult to read at times,it often sounds like whining.but he pulls it all together in the end.
this book has deeply affected me as a person with several chronic illness'.
this book has deeply affected me as a person with several chronic illness'.
Katrin B. (mum2gabe) reviewed Blindsided : Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir on + 16 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Having just read the very last sentence I have tears in my eyes from the strong emotions I feel upon it's end. Words can't describe how well written and truly honest this book is.
It will touch your heart and soul. This book will take you to places within your psyche that are so painful, gut wrenching and raw you will wonder how Richard could write in ways that you have always felt but were unable to put into words.
I have MS and have read many books on the subject of living with a chronic illness. This is by far the best. If you or your family is living with illness this book is should be on the top of your reading to-do list.
It will touch your heart and soul. This book will take you to places within your psyche that are so painful, gut wrenching and raw you will wonder how Richard could write in ways that you have always felt but were unable to put into words.
I have MS and have read many books on the subject of living with a chronic illness. This is by far the best. If you or your family is living with illness this book is should be on the top of your reading to-do list.
Kathy P. (taffy) reviewed Blindsided : Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir on + 120 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The author takes you on his continuing journey of learning to cope with the everyday challenges of living with MS and colon cancer. Richard Cohen is a person one would like to meet.
Peggy D. (atleast10hats) reviewed Blindsided : Lifting a Life Above Illness: A Reluctant Memoir on + 222 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
In this moving and engrossing memoir, veteran television news producer Richard Cohen relates a life spent dealing with multiple sclerosis, first diagnosed when he was 25 years old and just getting started in the competitive world of broadcast journalism. As his career progressed, he struggled not only with the disease but the touchy question of how much of the truth about himself to share with colleagues and potential employers. Cohen spent much of his life running from the onset of the disease's symptoms from which his father and grandmother also suffered. Defiantly, he took challenging, sometimes extremely dangerous assignments in Lebanon, Poland, and on the domestic political campaign trail, even as his body deteriorated. But over the course of Blindsided, it becomes apparent that illness had actually built Cohen up even as it ripped him apart. Without the physical and mental toughness required to navigate a journalist's life while fighting back loss of eyesight and poor equilibrium, it's doubtful that the flaky kid we meet early in the book would transform into the award-winning professional Cohen eventually becomes. His marriage to journalist Meredith Vieira, every bit his equal as both newshound and deadpan cynical comic, gave Cohen the stable family life and children he needed when MS made it impossible to continue in a traditional news job. But two bouts with colon cancer in the late 1990s tested his resolve and his family's patience. While Cohen is both courageous and inspirational, Blindsided is not the overly sentimental clichéd tale that stories about fighting illness often become. He refuses to paint himself as the hero (except when making fun of his own failure to be heroic) and recounts in detail the strain that he put on his marriage and children. Stories such as this often end with the memoirist arriving at a state of peace and mental clarity but again Cohen remains more compelling and credible by offering no such pat answers. As with most people fighting to preserve their families, their lives, and their bodies, Richard Cohen's is an ongoing struggle.