On My Way Back to You: One Couple’s Journey through Catastrophic Illness to Healing and Hope by Sarah Cart
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Though I found “On My Way Back to You” to be very interesting and I was definitely pulling for Ben and Sarah to make it through to the other side, I found that this memoir lacked emotion for me. It is a very detailed account of Ben’s illness and particularly the months leading up to and immediately following his heart transplant. Sarah indicated that she had kept a journal and that was exactly how it felt for me reading it. I would have preferred a narrative account rather than the almost bullet point approach to covering each day and what that looked like. The way it was organized felt very clinical and detached. It was also very repetitive in parts. I get that it happened during the pandemic, but I felt that it was beaten into the reader that Covid was an issue at the time.
There were a few times where Sarah discussed her emotions, and I found those sections powerful, but they were lost in the minutia of some of the other sections. I also found the epilogue to be very good. There I feel both Ben and Sarah spent time discussing the emotional nature of what they had overcome.
Overall, this was an interesting account of one couple’s struggle through serious illness. It will resonate with other people going through similar struggles. I just wish that more time was spent exploring the myriads of emotions they likely experienced over the course of the year or so that is the main focus of the book.
I do wish Ben continued good health and Sarah relief from the mental anguish of being the support person.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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