This memoir by Shane Burcaw is a wonderfully written account of how Shane has used a positive attitude to overcome extreme adversity in his life. What is particularly good about the memoir is, while having a great approach to life and trying to laugh and see the positive is working and is what gets him through his struggles, he is also honest about the fact he does have poor me moments. He talks about how he came to chose a better attitude at different points in his life and why he made those choices. He is brutally honest about his experiences and how he uses his humor to survive many struggles and awkward moments.
I was inspired by how he just adapted himself to do the things he wanted to do and to participate in the things that interested him with his friends. I don't think Shane has ever said I can't do that to himself, he just finds a way to do it in a manner that works.
He is very honest about how he addressed many of the typical developments adolescents experience and discusses how challenging do normal teen things could be at times. His description of the 6th grade dance was spot on and made you realize the difficulties of situations that you wouldn't normally think would pose a specific challenge outside of the obvious awkward dance moments.
This book made me realize how easy it is for people to misjudge someone just because they use a wheelchair. It is easy for strangers to assume Shane is mentally challenged along with his physical deformities but that isn't the case. I love how he has learned to deal with it and to point out that we should always give people a chance for their personalities and social skills to shine before assuming they are different from ourselves.
This aspect of his life reminded me of the struggles 2 of our family friends face on a daily basis. We happen to know 2 families who have boys with Duchene's MD. The struggles those boys face are enormous although different from Shane's. It is easy to see how they just would want to have normal friendships and relationships just like those who do not have their physical disabilities. Shane's honesty about his daily routines reminds me of the challenges my friends must face everyday while also dealing with the very real threat of a shortened life expectancy. I've admired them for a while but now even more so after reading Shane's book
This book is an amazing compilation of anecdotes from Shane's life that are inspiring and flow well. He is an amazing author along with a great inspiration. You cannot help but root for him to succeed in all endeavors. He seems to have an amazing family and friend group that will help him achieve everything he sets out to do.
I highly recommend this book for perspective and just because it's a great book.
Laughing at My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amazing inspiring story
This memoir is an amazing testament to how attitude is everything. Shane got dealt a pretty tough blow at birth with a Serious muscular dystrophy diagnosis. Instead of wallowing he chooses to find humor and fun in life and specifically with the challenges he faces. It isn’t all sunshine and roses though he discusses the frustrations and this sucks moments too. He chose to adapt activities to do what he finds fun and engaging with his friends. The book addresses his challenge with growing up and being in middle school and high school. Through it all you are reminded he’s a typical boy finding his way through life and at the heart of it just wants to have fun and have friends
He is an inspiration and an awesome writer. He also seems like a great person who is influential to many through his blog and non profit.
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Challenge Prompts
The Challenge Prompts I will use this for are:
Possible prompts
- Library Love #LibraryLoveChallenge Book #8
- Literary Escapes #LiteraryEscapes PA
- AtoZ #2021AtoZReadingChallenge #AlphabetSoupChallenge "L"
- Beat the Backlist #BTB2021 #7 caused a major book hangover
- Virtual Mount TBR #VirtualMountTBR2021 Book #9
- Back List Reader #Backlistreader Book #11
- Memoir #14 Written by someone under 40
- Non Fiction Reader #2021ReadNonFic #5. Disease
- Humor Book #1
- PopSugar #popsugarreadingchallenge #31 by a blogger
- Around the Year in 52 Books #3. A book related to the lyrics for the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music
- 52 Book Club #the52bookclub2021 #24 A book you think they should read in schools
- The Unofficial Magnus Archives Challenge #TMARC21 #35. Melanie: by/about a social media personality
- BooklistQueen #39 From an Indie Publisher
- A Pretty Mess Challenge #21. Book by an indie author
- NJM Book Challenge #NJMBookChallenge2021 #21 nominated for an award
- While I was Reading #10. A memoir
- Nerd Daily #NERDREADING2021 #16. STANDALONE
- Bookworm #28.) Read a book published in the 2010s
- Magic in the Books
- Book 6 #3 featuring a strong friendship
- Pick your Poison #2-4 A book with someone laughing on the cover
- Bloggers Bookshelf #bloggersbookshelf #16 autobiography or memoir
- Backpacking Bookworm #bbReadingChallenge2021 Jan character with a disability
- 52 books in 52 weeks #1 this is the way
- Unruly Reader Bingo #4 triumph
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