Book Review Questions
1. What challenges did Alan experience as a result of his disability? Provide 5 examples from the book. Describe each challenge as it affected Alan. Be sure to provide a page reference for each example.
In the book, Al suffered from many difficulties after the boating accident led to TBI. One of the challenges that Al suffered was the insecurity that he had within his relationship with his wife. He no longer was the same person, and it was obvious to both of them. By the end of the book, he starts referring to himself as the “New Al,” and the “Old Al” was the version of himself before the accident. This is shown in the book, as he refers to himself to Cathy by saying “I’m your third husband, Al says at dinner that night. He’s never really gotten over the fact that he’s my second husband.” This is a large obstacle, because the accident not only affected Al as a person, but the relationships that he had with people. By referring to himself as the “New Al,” it is obvious that he is aware that he has changed, and the challenge of making the relationship with his wife presents itself in the story after the accident.
Next, while in rehabilitation, another difficulty that he goes through for a while, is the inability to walk and perform daily grooming functions on his own. “Alan can walk with his cane for the most part, but he has not been allowed to walk by himself along the hospital hallways-either a therapist of a nurse must be with him or he must stay in his wheelchair,” displaying that while he is making progress from his injury, he faced many hardships of having to relearn simple brain functions, like walking(Page 140). This is just one of the physical challenges that Al faces due to his TBI, as he is forced to relearn simple movements and actions before he can go on to mental and more complex rehabilitation.
Another challenge is that Al had difficulty with differentiating between truth. In the story, Cathy states, “Confabulation after brain injury or at the age of three stems from the same developmental problem-as kids, we didn’t always understand what was true and what was not, and neither does the brain injury patient”(129). The accident leaves Al telling stories and recalling memories different than how they originally occurred, which is a problem for when he tries to communicate with the people around him. In the story, he recalls talking to the woman that hit him in the boating accident, which never actually happened. However, as his mind is trying to compensate for missing information, he truly believes that his false stories are truthful.
Not only confabulating stories, Al also suffers from lack of memory. He is unable to recall a wedding that they had gone to a couple weeks before the accident, nor remember the vacation that Cathy and him had gone on to celebrate their anniversary. An example from the book of his lack of memory, is shown when Cathy brings him a cheese spread for dinner consisting of gazpacho, bread, and his favorite Goat cheese. “He looked at the cheese curiously. Then, childlike, with his hand made into a fist over his plastic fork, he pierced and lifted the entire one pound piece onto his plate, stabbed a piece with a fork and quickly shoved it into his mouth”(Page 138). While this previously had always been his favorite food, Cathy watched him in shock, as he no longer obtained the memory of how to correctly eat his preferred meal. To doctors, they explained to Cathy that forgetting his favorite food was a sign of major cognitive damage, and would result in a longer rehabilitation.
Finally, A large challenge that is also seen, is that even after so much rehabilitation, Al needed a life coach to attend work with him daily. The purpose of the coach was, “In order to avoid overstimulation, Bill will accompany him to the office,” helping Al complete his daily tasks and making sure that his behavior is appropriate for public (Page 220). To me, this was a really big problem, because it showed that even though he had made so much progress, he still needed to be supervised in his position. Later, this challenge is followed by trying to keep a job, as he is fired from the bank and has to find new positions that seem to be hard for him to hold on to.
2. What challenges did the family and/or friends of the person with a disability experience as a result of that person’s disability? Provide 5 examples from the book. Describe each challenge as it affected family or friends. Be sure to provide a page reference for each example.
In Where is the Mango Princess, Al’s accident caused him to suffer from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). However, it did not only affect the life of Al, as the lives of his friends and especially his family were affected as well. The main challenge that I saw was that it affect the life of his wife Cathy, as she was forced into the role of caretaker for her husband. Her life would be changed, as she was forced into the responsibility as taking care of Al and making all plans in order for his recovery. This is shown in the story when she says, “A wave of pity hits me, but it is not pity for the young man, it is pity for myself. Is this what my husband will be like forever?” (113). Only further putting a spotlight on the fact that Cathy felt unprepared and a lot of stress from the responsibility of being Al’s keeper.
Then, there is the issue of not only tending towards her husband and the rest of the family responsibilities, but also Cathy went through the devastation of mentally losing her husband. While by the end of the book Al had made a lot of progress, it was still evident that her husband Al would never be the same again. Cathy states that progress had been made as she says, “The day I spend with Al at Magee going through his therapy sessions is exhausting. Not physically for me, but mentally, as I try to wrap my brain around just how far he’s come and what I should be concerned about.”( 139) She is putting a spotlight on the stress that not only affects Al, but also Cathy, as her actions directly affect her husband’s progress. She also shows the feeling of loss in her relationship, when she talks about the loss of traits that he once possessed. This is shown as Cathy thinks to herself, ““Still, I miss Alan’s eyes. His old eyes. The ones that were connected to his original brain. They had a sparkle that’s missing now,” making it evident to readers, that even though her husband is still making immense progress from his TBI, he still isn’t the same man( 229).
Next, another challenge that was caused by Al’s TBI, is his daughter Kelly would have to grow up with the effects of TBI to her father figure. “Kelly has been told that when her father comes out of his coma, he may need to learn to read again,” downplaying the severity to Kelly of how large the possible effects of Traumatic Brain Injury could be to Al’s brain(page 60). Since Kelly was so young when the accident happened, Cathy thought it was best to send Kelly to their family friends homes and Girl Scout Camp, so that Kelly wouldn’t have to deal with the initial shock of the accident to Al. However, as time progresses and Al has made improvements, Cathy makes it known that she was worried of the long term effects of having a father with a mental handicap would have on her.
Another challenge from his accident was the effect that it had on Al’s friends. An example of this is shown in the story when “ Sally walks over to kiss him, and I see with horror that Al’s left hand is stroking his penis”(page 83). No longer able to make the same variations between what is appropriate and what isn’t, the “New Al” struggles with this throughout the book. In this case, it came off inappropriately to family friends, who were forced to accept that his friend may never be the same again.
Finally, it also is a hard transition of acceptance to Al’s parents and brother. There is an example in the book, where Cathy and Al’s brother are visiting Al, when he has to use the restroom. Due to his accident, they had to assist him in using the restroom, which is a hard transition seeing your family member so severely handicapped. Al’s parents and brother both were forced into accepting that the son/brother that they always knew, would forever be changed due to his brain injury. Cathy states that one day while visiting, “We looked at him, and he looked like a zombie child,” showing the change from the grown man they once knew, to this TBI patient(Page 74).
3. If you have not known a person with TBI, what do you now think is most important information for someone else to know about a person with this disability?
I do not know anyone that has personally suffered from TBI, but after reading Where is the Mango Princess, I think that it is very important for a person that isn’t knowledgeable about mental disabilities, to know that a disability does not make a person lesser. While Al suffered from his accident, his rehabilitation led him to amazing success. While he still may never be completely back to how he once was, he only required different learning strategies in order to regain many of the lost skills. For a person that may not know about mental disability, they may not realize this, and think that once the brain has been damaged the person will never be the same ever again. However, in Where is the Mango Princess, it is evident that that is not the case. A person that suffers from TBI just requires some additional learning techniques, and is still capable of learning. Al showed that a mental disability can be a set back, but does not define who someone is, and I think that is an extremely important lesson to teach those that are uneducated on mental disability or TBI.
4. How has reading this book influenced your understanding of this disability? Please provide detail and be specific.
For me, while this book was really eye opening for disabilities, I think that the most influential part of the book was seeing how the disability affects those around the person just as much. I think that it definitely made me have more empathy for the family and friends, after seeing the experience through Cathy’s eyes. When she said, “Why wasn’t I hit on the head?’ I ask friends. The old Alan, with his practical streak, could have managed this whole situation much more competently,” it shows the struggle that she went through having to adjust her life in order to tend to Al’s rehab and the new responsibilities that he had performed before the accident(Page 140). To me, that was extremely eye opening, because I feel like it is super easy to overlook the difficulties that caretakers go through.
Along with that, I felt that the book made me realize how there are such advanced technology and rehabilitation centers today, that help make such a positive impact. From the beginning of the book, where Al is unable to make sense of where he even is, to the end of the book, where Cathy and Al are celebrating their vacation and Cathy states, “There’s little stress of life, so Al seems even higher functioning than usual,” showing the incredible progress he has made”(Page 246). From the support of Cathy, Al was able to go to centers and have doctors that helped him in his rehabilitation process, to reach amazing progress. While I know that not everyone with a disability has the same ability, it was really amazing to see what could be done, which was really eye-opening to me.
5. How do you think reading this book will influence you as a teacher or other service professional? Please provide detail and be specific. If you are not planning on teaching, discuss how this book can make you an ally for those with TBI (or really any disabilities) in your future profession.
For me, this definitely affected me in my hopes of one day becoming a teacher. Before this course, I never really considered becoming a special education teacher, but now it is definitely something that I am thinking about. I feel like I was truly inspired by the improvement that Al made after his accident, that it made me want to have the opportunity to affect someone’s life positively as well. To be able to see the progression that was made, made me think that with proper training, I could be a special education teacher to positively affect students’ futures/lives. This also relates to the discussion boards that we have done in the past, that have also motivated me, after seeing the long term effects that proper education and training techniques can have on a person with a disability. I think that since the book also was from the perspective of the wife, it also showed how advancements in special education can not only impact the person affected, but also positively change the lives of the people surrounding.