Play Book Tag discussion

This is the second memoir by Michael J. Fox, one I was primarily interested in since it deals with his life after his Parkinson’s diagnosis. I’ve always liked Michael, I loved Growing Pains and my first date with my husband, some 31 years ago was to see back to the Future so at times I felt it was like reading about a friend of mine. I had mixed reactions to different parts of the book, some I enjoyed more than others, but overall I found it very interesting.

The book is divided into 4 parts: Work, Politics, Faith and Family, which is pretty self explanatory. For me the least interesting part of the book was the politics section. I admire all the work Michael Fox has done in bringing the need for stem cell research into the forefront and raising enormous amounts of money for his foundation. But I just found most of the political scrambling boring. I struggled through that portion.

The other three portions were really interesting especially the last chapter on family, I found that chapter very touching. I really admire the kind of love Michael and Tracy have for each other; many marriages do not survive the hardships of an overwhelming medical diagnosis. A lot of that has to do with the financial difficulties, which wasn’t an issue in this case. But Parkinson’s is a devastating disease and that can strain a marriage to the breaking point. This doesn’t appear to be the case here, and Michael gives his spouse and children a lot of credit for helping him face the daily struggles of the illness.

There’s a lot of name dropping in the book, some of it I found amusing and some of it very sad. The book was published in 2009 and there is a portion of the book detailing Michael’s admiration for Lance Armstrong and his physical prowess after surviving cancer. Of course that image is now tarnished. There is also a lot of talk of his friendship with both Christopher Reeve and Robin Williams, two people gone far too soon. Lots of other people mentioned, but these are the three that stand out in my memory.

Overall it was a good read with a lot of information about PD, without being too heavy handed, and with lot of dry humor and also a lot of love and respect for all the people who have helped him on this journey.