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Fractured: A Memoir
“Somehow it was easier to be inside the injury. Not to see what was visible on the outside. I knew I was still here.”
A collision with a moose on a dark highway left Susan Mockler with an incomplete spinal injury, suddenly compromising her ability to walk and to care for herself. She spent months in a rehabilitation facility learning how to adjust to her new reality, and though her body partially recovered, every aspect of her life changed.
Fractured is a compelling illumination of the challenges of acquired disability and the ways in which people with disabilities are sidelined and infantilised. Mockler, a psychotherapist, speaks with frank honesty about her family and friends’ reactions to her injury, and the hard-won lessons that she and those around her learned from her experience.
A collision with a moose on a dark highway left Susan Mockler with an incomplete spinal injury, suddenly compromising her ability to walk and to care for herself. She spent months in a rehabilitation facility learning how to adjust to her new reality, and though her body partially recovered, every aspect of her life changed.
Fractured is a compelling illumination of the challenges of acquired disability and the ways in which people with disabilities are sidelined and infantilised. Mockler, a psychotherapist, speaks with frank honesty about her family and friends’ reactions to her injury, and the hard-won lessons that she and those around her learned from her experience.
- GenresNonfictionDisability
312 pages, Paperback
Published September 27, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 23, 2022
A powerful memoir that has a lasting impact on a reader's worldview. Susan Mockler skillfully weaves a sophisticated narrative that brings us inside her struggle with a severe spinal cord injury, not just showing us her fight for mobility, acceptance and understanding, but allowing us to feel it in some part. There are moments that are absolutely heartbreaking, as well as moments that made me laugh out loud for Mockler injects humor, and all the emotion in between. It can be a difficult read for those of us who have experienced or lost people to car accidents, but it's an important read. Boiled down, Fractured is a story of courage and perseverance and I absolutely recommend it for everyone.
October 13, 2022
This book brought back a lot of memories of my own incomplete spinal cord injury and time in rehab. I really appreciated her balance between working hard/moving on and mourning what was lost.
December 8, 2022
This well-written memoir describes the first several months of the author’s rehabilitation following a car collision with a moose. (Set in Canada)
June 12, 2023
What a wonderful read. Well, I should clarify: Susan Mockler's memoir Fractured, about her descent from an able-bodied person into a shattered world replete with hospitals, doctors, and all the uncertainty that that surreal world entails, is a compelling but difficult read. It's very well-written but some parts are not for the faint-of-heart. For instance, the author talks about catheters, bowel movements, halos being screwed into her head, the loss of use of her body (incl the loss of use of her bodily functions), doctors and nurses who are far too cavalier at times, some members of the public who themselves seem unable to deal with her disability. It chronicles all the trials of tribulations of being unable to care for oneself (something we all usually take for granted) and as a result, being subject to other people's whims. Independence is completely taken away...how daunting.
The memoir seamlessly alternates between the present and the past and outlines Mockler's difficult upbringing, and her current relationship with her family and friends, some of which remain strained. But again, being disabled, she was now at their whim in some respects, unable to do things for herself. The book also deals with her now-uncertain future and all the little things she did to not give over to total despair (like a woman in the book did, a woman who was similarly severely injured when a bale of hay dropped on top of her).
My takeaway from this compelling read is that human resilience can overcome many obstacles, but maybe not all. Also, there is a way disabled people can learn to navigate in a world not built for them.
Highly recommended! (see my full-length review of Fractured in the June issue of The Ottawa Review of Books)
The memoir seamlessly alternates between the present and the past and outlines Mockler's difficult upbringing, and her current relationship with her family and friends, some of which remain strained. But again, being disabled, she was now at their whim in some respects, unable to do things for herself. The book also deals with her now-uncertain future and all the little things she did to not give over to total despair (like a woman in the book did, a woman who was similarly severely injured when a bale of hay dropped on top of her).
My takeaway from this compelling read is that human resilience can overcome many obstacles, but maybe not all. Also, there is a way disabled people can learn to navigate in a world not built for them.
Highly recommended! (see my full-length review of Fractured in the June issue of The Ottawa Review of Books)
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September 26, 2024Fractured is a memoir from Susan Mockler regarding the car accident that left her with an incomplete spinal injury in her 30s. The novel details her recovery and rehabilitation as well as the challenges she faced (and continues to face) with a newly acquired disability.
I loved Mockler's frank and honest voice. Mockler highlighted, in both the discussion around fate and her accident as well as her dissolving romantic relationships and familial struggles, how we truly never know where life will take us. We can only control so much in our lives. I love memoirs because you always feel so much more aware and educated after.Education is a large part of Mockler's story as well. She shows us how post-recovery many people her treated her differently and how she struggled with her own internalized ableism and attempted to minimize the visibleness of her disability. It was also intriguing hearing Mockler speak about her rehabilitation and how post-accident her apartment had to be assessed for accessibility purposes. There truly are so many things able-bodied people take for granted and so ensuring that there are visible persons with disabilities that can fight for their rights is so important. Mockler continues to be an advocate for persons with disabilities in regards to accessibility and inclusion.
I loved Mockler's frank and honest voice. Mockler highlighted, in both the discussion around fate and her accident as well as her dissolving romantic relationships and familial struggles, how we truly never know where life will take us. We can only control so much in our lives. I love memoirs because you always feel so much more aware and educated after.Education is a large part of Mockler's story as well. She shows us how post-recovery many people her treated her differently and how she struggled with her own internalized ableism and attempted to minimize the visibleness of her disability. It was also intriguing hearing Mockler speak about her rehabilitation and how post-accident her apartment had to be assessed for accessibility purposes. There truly are so many things able-bodied people take for granted and so ensuring that there are visible persons with disabilities that can fight for their rights is so important. Mockler continues to be an advocate for persons with disabilities in regards to accessibility and inclusion.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews