Beauty In The Broken Places: Review

The most powerful Memoir I have read to date; breathtakingly beautiful and thoughtful. 

Beauty In The Broken Places by Allison Pataki

Allison a New York Times bestselling author and Dave a Doctor completing his Residency, a young couple gifted with some overdue time off and a baby on the way are happily flying to enjoy their “babymoon”. Just as their time of relaxation and bonding are starting, Dave turned and asked his wife if his eye looked strange and that is when relaxation turns to nightmare. An emergency landing in North Dakota and many tests leave Allison wondering if her husband will ever wake up again. A stroke stole Dave’s memories, leaves Allison not only caring for her husband, but for the life inside of her and leads her to write letters to him everyday. Letters that cry out in pain, rejoice in progress, mourn what was, and wonder what will be. A memoir of love, faith, and resilience, Allison and Dave’s story will remind you to be thankful for every moment every day, because you do not know if it will be your last. 

I was scared to open this book out of fear that this would be a sad story. While there are many sad parts, this story is about love and perseverance. I have never read a true story that paints the messy and beautiful reality of marriage. Allison had every reason to throw in the towel during the trials and lows of Dave’s healing, but she never gave up on him. She cried, grieved, and sometimes lost her temper, but she never left him. Watching someone you love suffer, make progress, and then face setbacks while on the road to healing is frustrating, especially when you are dealing with man whose brain is spending a long time at the teenage boy stage of re-learning. This story is not perfect, because no one is perfect, and that is what makes it so beautiful to me. I am single, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be married someday, because it illustrates the vows that are so easily said on a beautiful day lived out in the darkest days. If you are married, I recommend this book to you, because it is a beautiful illustration of love and a reminder to be thankful for the person next to you even when work seems to come before togetherness and it is not going how you both planned. These are the days to remember, to hold close as you hold each other closer. 

-Hannah