Gifts from the Broken Jar

Small Press Bookwatch, Jan, 2005

Gifts From The Broken Jar

P. J. Long

EquiLibrium Press

10736 Jefferson Blvd. #680, Culver City, CA 90230

0966739396 $19.95 www.equipress.com

Gifts From The Broken Jar: Rediscovering Hope, Beauty, And Joy by P.J. Long is a memoir that encompasses how one's life can change on every level in a single instant. Psychotherapist and author P. J. Long experienced such a cataclysm when an accident caused permanent brain damage. For the first few months afterward, she was unable to reason clearly, hold a conversation, or take care of herself; she was a stranger to herself. The passage of time brought incomplete healing, as she was unable to perform the simplest tasks without complete silence, and still experienced severe difficulty attempting to function or communicate. But in picking up a pen and putting feelings on paper, she was gradually able to learn how to reach out. Her testimony and reflections upon life, as she works to repair the breakage in her own mind, come through with unparalleled power and honesty. "I realized that what is initially most troubling for brain injury patients is their diminished ability to function", she writes candidly. "'Not doing the things I used to do' translates pretty quickly into 'not being the person I used to be.'" Gifts from the Broken Jar is a testimony of strength, of finding joy in life and adapting to change. Highly recommended.