Community Reviews
Really enjoyed this book! The storyline was gripping, with some great twists that kept me hooked throughout. I really liked how it switched between the past and present, showing what happened before her brain injury, which added so much to the story. It was a quick, easy read that kept me wanting to know what would happen next. Definitely recommend!
Dr. Charly McKenna is at the peak of her career as a dermatologist–also “the keeper of groin fungus medication.” Her success transforms one patient's admiration to affection. When she asserts that she can’t date patients, he’s convinced she’s not allowed to date patients who aren’t attractive enough to meet her high standards. She assures him he’s not in love with her; he doesn't even know her. She saw him as a patient, in a professional capacity. Once. For groin fungus.
But when another patient asks her out, she is swayed by his almond brown hair, cerulean eyes, and dimples and agrees. “Before the ink is even dry on the marriage certificate, it feels like everything has fallen apart…He intends to spend an extra week alone on our honeymoon.” Charly begins to regret her decision. “I should have just stuck with my instincts and stayed single forever.”
Her regrets are confirmed when she wakes up in the hospital with a helmet on her head and without any memory of who she is or what happened to her. I’m afraid my brain may explode. Especially since I don’t have a skull anymore to hold everything in place…I’m pretty sure getting shot is the worst thing that can happen to your brain…Pretty please with sugar on top. Don’t let me die.”
She is determined to recover, but recovery is harder than it seems. “We seem to be stuck. I’ve been hearing the word ‘plateau’ a lot lately, and I don’t think it means anything good.” “‘You’ve just got to work at it…There are a lot of times when they tell me not to give up. And I keep going, even though inside sometimes I feel like I want to give up more than anything.” “It’s not necessarily a question of vision…It’s about perception…I may be dying, but I’m not dead yet…None of us are any good at this. We’re all just getting better…I’m not Helmet Girl. Not anymore. But maybe it was all worth it if it got me here.”
On the surface, Freida McFadden’s Brain Damage is a novel about a woman who was shot in the head and must identify a killer whose identity is locked in the left side of her visual field; but at its heart, it’s really about vulnerability, resilience, survival, and memory—both lost and recovered.