Beyond the Book: Something Like Normal by Trish Doller – Take Me Away… On the Pages of Your Story

This bookish feature is an original by me! I had the epiphany for this the other day when I was writing out my 15 bookish confessions. (See #7) A lot of times I like to go “beyond the book” and do something that will connect me with the book and characters a little more. It will pop up on Mondays! Be on the look out for which books caught my eye and made me go beyond just reading it!

This Beyond the Book is dedicated to Something Like Normal by Trish Doller.

“Welcome home.”

It took me awhile to write this post. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is something serious and I just couldn’t think of what I wanted to say. So, I’ll do my best…

“When in danger, it’s natural to feel afraid. This fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm. But in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.”

In this book, Travis is a Marine is just coming home from a tour in Afghanistan to a broken home. His father is still a douche and his brother is taking over his old life. Travis begins to have nightmares about Afghanistan and have flashbacks of what it was like while there. He doesn’t tell anyone these things because he doesn’t want them to think he’s crazy. That was his mistake.
It was gut wrenching to watch (or read) Travis dealing with this by his self. It’s a very scary situation and shouldn’t be handled lightly. Having so many people in my family in the military, I could definitely connect with this. Although my uncle never had a serious case of PTSD (he served in the Korean war), he still gets a little moody around that time of year and he drinks more heavily around that time as well. My family has been there since he started acting that way and every time he gets better he thanks us profusely. No one should have to go through that by themselves.

As I said in my review, “Having gone to these awful places during a time of war is hard and scary and should be looked at with admiration that they gave up their time to do it when we wouldn’t. So if you know someone on active duty, on reserve, retired, a veteran or whatever, be sure to thank them. Because remember, they didn’t/don’t have to do what they did/do. (And I say this in the most non-lecturey, serious way possible :D)”

If you have any other questions about PTSD, you can find more information here:
www.ptsd.va.gov

Info came from these sites: 1/2
All images found on Google.

Have you ever had such a connection with a book that you had to go beyond just reading it?

Join me on Mondays with Beyond the Book!