More book reviews

Accidents of Nature

This is a new American book based on the disabled author’s own experiences in her youth. It is a simple tale of friendship and “coming of age” set at a “crip camp” for disabled teenagers in the 1970s. What are not simple are the thoughts, ideas and views that are introduced to the protagonist and, in turn, us the readers.

That protagonist is Jean, a bright 17-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who lives her life “just like a normal girl” and who has had very limited contact with other disabled people. That is, until she meets Sara, a strong and feisty teenager with a strong dislike of the non-disabled authority that she finds herself subjected to (bet she is not the only one. Nah, I know she isn’t).

The book is paced slowly, following the young ladies and a wonderfully interesting cast of other disabled kids and the equally intriguing collection of adult counsellor staff through the ten days of camp. This allows for detailed journal-like descriptions of the week’s itinerary and the changes in Jean. Considering that the author is herself like the character of Sara, even though it is written in the first person by Jean, what I found very interesting was the care taken to write about the cp movements that take over Jean’s body. One of the important moments for me is when Jean is watching another cp body and thinking about herself;
even I, who had considerably more exposure to disability in my formative years, can pinpoint the time that I felt what Jean feels.

This is a really interesting book if you are looking at it with a historical eye because, although the hot words “social model” and “medical model” never show up, the pure and simple idea of that concept runs as strongly through the book as Sara herself.

I enjoyed this book immensely, as did my non-disabled best friend. It would make brilliant reading for teenagers, disabled or not.

Katie Caryer

• Accidents Of Nature by Harriet McBryde Johnson; paperback; Andersen Press; £5.99