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Birdcall Morning
Imagine if you left this world in 1994 and returned in 2011
Joel Berskin is about to come out of a coma after being hopelessly trapped between life and death for over seventeen years. The last time he was conscious, at thirty-one, O.J. Simpson had just led police on a long car chase and nobody knew the name Monica Lewinsky. When he turns on the strange-looking flat screen in his room at the nursing home, he hears reporters on one channel after another talking about Charlie Sheen’s infamous meltdown.
After his mother arrives at his bedside, he learns that his father has died, his wife has divorced him, and the music store that he owned for most of his adult life has been sold. As Joel grapples with the loss of his independence, he realizes that his mother, who has driven him crazy since birth, will be his caretaker for the foreseeable future. Luckily, angels disguised as therapists and the support of old friends help him through a grueling rehabilitation. With one foot in the past and a heavy heart, Joel is about to slowly reenter a very different world than the one he left.
Birdcall Morning is an emotional and life-affirming tale about the struggle to start over, the value of friendship, the true nature of love, and the changing times that we live in. It’s the sort of book that takes you on an unexpected journey that’s captivating until the very last word.
Joel Berskin is about to come out of a coma after being hopelessly trapped between life and death for over seventeen years. The last time he was conscious, at thirty-one, O.J. Simpson had just led police on a long car chase and nobody knew the name Monica Lewinsky. When he turns on the strange-looking flat screen in his room at the nursing home, he hears reporters on one channel after another talking about Charlie Sheen’s infamous meltdown.
After his mother arrives at his bedside, he learns that his father has died, his wife has divorced him, and the music store that he owned for most of his adult life has been sold. As Joel grapples with the loss of his independence, he realizes that his mother, who has driven him crazy since birth, will be his caretaker for the foreseeable future. Luckily, angels disguised as therapists and the support of old friends help him through a grueling rehabilitation. With one foot in the past and a heavy heart, Joel is about to slowly reenter a very different world than the one he left.
Birdcall Morning is an emotional and life-affirming tale about the struggle to start over, the value of friendship, the true nature of love, and the changing times that we live in. It’s the sort of book that takes you on an unexpected journey that’s captivating until the very last word.
- GenresFiction
324 pages, Paperback
Published March 30, 2016
About the author
Mark J. Asher
27 books88 followersMark J. Asher is the author of several dog books, including: All That Ails You (over 1,000 Five-Star Reviews), Humphrey Was Here (pet loss memoir), and Canine Rhymes (dog poems).
PRAISE FOR MARK’S BOOKS:
“Beautifully told story about how important dogs are in helping, healing and brightening your day.”
—Reader review of All That Ails You
“The honesty and wisdom that grace this book will serve as a balm for others coping with their own pain.”
—Best Friends Magazine on Humphrey Was Here
“These animals jump from the pages, warm the heart, and inspire the soul.”
—The Humane Society of the United States on Old Friends
PRAISE FOR MARK’S BOOKS:
“Beautifully told story about how important dogs are in helping, healing and brightening your day.”
—Reader review of All That Ails You
“The honesty and wisdom that grace this book will serve as a balm for others coping with their own pain.”
—Best Friends Magazine on Humphrey Was Here
“These animals jump from the pages, warm the heart, and inspire the soul.”
—The Humane Society of the United States on Old Friends
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 14, 2023
Waking up from a coma and 17 years of your life are gone. What would you do? Especially with your physical limitations like Joel. Would you have the tenacity to survive and go on?
Birdcall morning is a tremendously exquisite read! I loved every minute of it. Every line and every page shows the strength that Joel has to conquer the world that has immensely changed while he was in his coma.
This book gives you lessons on strength, perseverance, love, loss, loneliness, and the ability to come back from nothing and make yourself something again.
Joel is an inspiration to anyone who has ever been remotely in his situation and to anyone who feels less than what they are. This book is for those of you who feel you have no purpose in life with no direction or force pushing you forward to intercept all the goodness that this world has to offer you.
Joel shows us never to give up and to never give in. He reminds us that we all have a purpose and a reason for being here on earth, and we just have to look and listen to find it. Joel would want you to keep on keeping on, and this is a heartwarming motivational novel, and I recommend it to everyone.
Birdcall morning is a tremendously exquisite read! I loved every minute of it. Every line and every page shows the strength that Joel has to conquer the world that has immensely changed while he was in his coma.
This book gives you lessons on strength, perseverance, love, loss, loneliness, and the ability to come back from nothing and make yourself something again.
Joel is an inspiration to anyone who has ever been remotely in his situation and to anyone who feels less than what they are. This book is for those of you who feel you have no purpose in life with no direction or force pushing you forward to intercept all the goodness that this world has to offer you.
Joel shows us never to give up and to never give in. He reminds us that we all have a purpose and a reason for being here on earth, and we just have to look and listen to find it. Joel would want you to keep on keeping on, and this is a heartwarming motivational novel, and I recommend it to everyone.
March 12, 2016
Mark J. Asher Masterpiece
After reading this book..I feel like Joel is one of my best friends. This book touched my heart and soul. It is filled with thought provoking statements, soulful insight and warms the spirit.
This is a book about love, survival, perseverance and survival.
It truly makes you stop and think...about the complexities and simplicities that intertwine daily life.
I smiled while reading the whole book because, Mark truly puts the images so clearly that you really become part of it.
Loved this book so much.
After reading this book..I feel like Joel is one of my best friends. This book touched my heart and soul. It is filled with thought provoking statements, soulful insight and warms the spirit.
This is a book about love, survival, perseverance and survival.
It truly makes you stop and think...about the complexities and simplicities that intertwine daily life.
I smiled while reading the whole book because, Mark truly puts the images so clearly that you really become part of it.
Loved this book so much.
April 4, 2016
Amazing and heartfelt
I absolutely loved this book. Once I started I could not put it down. It is very rare I find a book that pulls me in to where you feel like you know the character. You will fall in love with Joel and his little dog Mattie. I truly did not want this book to end. I feel as if I almost know Joel, his perseverance and spirit will have you rooting for him til the end. The best book I have read in a very long time. Great job Mark!!
I absolutely loved this book. Once I started I could not put it down. It is very rare I find a book that pulls me in to where you feel like you know the character. You will fall in love with Joel and his little dog Mattie. I truly did not want this book to end. I feel as if I almost know Joel, his perseverance and spirit will have you rooting for him til the end. The best book I have read in a very long time. Great job Mark!!
June 3, 2024
Some aspects of this book were interesting. It would be a shock to wake up after 17 years in a coma and find the world so different and changed. The adjustment would take time and confusion would be common.
However, this book has such one-dimensional characters and seemed to raise issues that were never addressed that it didn't come together well for me. for example, Joel and his mother have issues but they never talk about them. Neither seems happy with their relationship but neither takes steps to talk and/or change it either. This happens throughout. When there's an issue raised, it's stated and the story moves on. No resolution or talk about it. Makes one wonder why the issue was raised in the first place.
The story moved ahead predictably and blandly.
However, this book has such one-dimensional characters and seemed to raise issues that were never addressed that it didn't come together well for me. for example, Joel and his mother have issues but they never talk about them. Neither seems happy with their relationship but neither takes steps to talk and/or change it either. This happens throughout. When there's an issue raised, it's stated and the story moves on. No resolution or talk about it. Makes one wonder why the issue was raised in the first place.
The story moved ahead predictably and blandly.
July 7, 2016
Very touching
I so enjoyed reading this story. It's very easy to relate to this main character's dilemma when he awakens from a seventeen-year coma to slowly come to accept the "new world" he now rediscovers.
My husband and I have just been married seventeen years and we frequently marvel at the changes we've been witness to over that time. We weren't unconscious but it sometimes feels that way when we begin discussing how much we've watched change in these few years together.
The wonderful addition of Joel's dog so adds to the story. Pets really increase our lives in ways we may not realize and in Joel's case, even save his life.
I'm so happy the author allowed Maya to meet Joel in the end. Highly recommend this work.
I so enjoyed reading this story. It's very easy to relate to this main character's dilemma when he awakens from a seventeen-year coma to slowly come to accept the "new world" he now rediscovers.
My husband and I have just been married seventeen years and we frequently marvel at the changes we've been witness to over that time. We weren't unconscious but it sometimes feels that way when we begin discussing how much we've watched change in these few years together.
The wonderful addition of Joel's dog so adds to the story. Pets really increase our lives in ways we may not realize and in Joel's case, even save his life.
I'm so happy the author allowed Maya to meet Joel in the end. Highly recommend this work.
January 22, 2019
I had a hard time getting through this book. It was not a page turner by any means but it had enough interesting events throughout that kept me reading. I never knew where it was actually going or what I had to look forward to in this book but I still feel relatively satisfied with it.
July 17, 2017
Decent story but could have used a lot more editing. Too many uses of "I" when it should have been "me," for example. A sentence that said something along the lines of "he gave the book to XX and I." It's a common mistake online and in speech (irritating as it is) but is shouldn't appear in a book, especially as frequently as it did here.
Also, in a few spots, there was a consistency problem. When the main character was still in his wheelchair, he said something about stepping away from someone or an action that implied standing and walking. An editor should have caught that.
The story has potential, but it could have been tightened up and edited for errors like that.
Also, in a few spots, there was a consistency problem. When the main character was still in his wheelchair, he said something about stepping away from someone or an action that implied standing and walking. An editor should have caught that.
The story has potential, but it could have been tightened up and edited for errors like that.
February 23, 2020
Sweet - light, easy, fast read. Nothing profound or particularly deep. Guy who wakes up from a coma after 17 years and finds a dog to love and gets his life in order. This guy is way more low-key and pleasant than would be expected - and your heart might anticipate skipping more beats in a couple of spots - BUT IT WILL NOT. If you have ever loved a dog or experienced the happiness of just sitting in nature or interacting with like-minded strangers you will feel happy reading this. I felt happy a few times ;)
April 25, 2020
What a sweet amazing fictional story of a man who wakes up from a coma 17 years later and must relearn and adjust to life in 2011! Very interesting details of his life and his rehab with all the ups and downs. It definitely wasn't easy but he was able to create an independent life for himself. The ending seemed a bit unsettled leaving some rather big issues to be resolved but he seemed to feel that things would work out.
June 16, 2018
What a fantastic story. Whatever happens when you awake from a coma after 17 years of not taking part in the years when technology has done enormous leaps and bounds and getting your head around why everyone is looking into their phones all the time. Loved this book. An excellent read. Written in a persona you can really identify with.
August 10, 2018
This was a good book and a heartwarming story of rebuilding both your body and your life after waking up from a seventeen-year coma, but it read more like a diary. The most outstanding character in the book was Mattie, the dog who adopted Joel and gave him reason to live.
July 5, 2020
This is truly one of the weirdest books I have ever read. The characters were so one-dimensional so I didn’t really care about them. The extreme detail was weird like every day movements were explained in detail. Not a fan.
April 27, 2018
I honestly didn’t know what to expect. It was good at times, okay mostly, sometimes I just thought “what in the world am I reading?”.
Do not recommend.
Do not recommend.
December 19, 2018
Interesting plot
I liked everything about this book. Just could not read it fast enough. If you are an animal lover than this is a double plus for you
I liked everything about this book. Just could not read it fast enough. If you are an animal lover than this is a double plus for you
February 7, 2020
I enjoyed this book. The characters were unique and real. The subject was gripping, the ending positive
April 10, 2020
Liked the story, hated the ending.
April 27, 2021
Refreshingly Real Reading!
Loved it - real life experiences, real life views, funny moments and sad moments. Look forward to reading more of his works.
Loved it - real life experiences, real life views, funny moments and sad moments. Look forward to reading more of his works.
April 29, 2016
I've read Mark's other books so when I found out he had written another one, I immediately bought it on Kindle. It was a great book and true to form, he included a dog as a key player in the book. It's a great story that has a lot of interesting points about the world in which we live today. Mark is a really good writer that captivates you start to finish. I really enjoyed this story & love the way he tied it all together at the end. I highly recommend reading Birdcall Morning!!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews