Listening in the Silence, Seeing in the Dark Reconstructing Life after Brain Injury

When the author's fifteen-year-old son survives a terrible car crash in spite of massive trauma to his brain, she and her family know only that his story has not ended. This title presents the story of their efforts, Erik's own efforts, and those of everyone who helps bring him from deep coma to new life.

"An extraordinary story that you will pick up and finish in a few hours of remarkable reading. The account of her son's and her family's regeneration is simply inspiring. It will be instructive to any family with a child with a disabling condition. But as the account of a transfiguring experience and the sensitive interpretation of how it came about, it speaks to all of us."—Arthur Kleinman, Harvard Medical School, author of Writing at the Margin

"Ruthann Johansen’s loving account of the aftermath of her son’s traumatic brain injury is an extraordinary book, . . . at once a profound meditation about the inextricable relationship between language, story-telling, and self-formation and a moving account of how one young man reconstructed his life in dialogue with the solicitations and offerings of family, friends, and caring others. This book should be read by everyone who is interested in the nature of identity and selfhood."—Janice A. Radway, Duke University, author of A Feeling for Books: The Book-Of-The-Month Club, Literary Taste, and Middle-Class Desire

"This book clearly asks the question: Who speaks for the traumatically brain injured? It should be required reading for all neuroscientists who are providers of care or who are diligently conducting research to find a therapy that truly produces recovery of function."—David A. Hovda, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Brain Injury Research Center, University of California, Los Angeles

"A singular contribution to our understanding of brain injury as illness experience, of the family dynamics of care, and of the narrative nature of lives and brains. The writing is lyrical, moving, and scholarly, not by turns but at the same time. Johansen conveys mother love, feminist self-awareness, and a critical social perspective to provide a unique account of family life through continuing trauma."—Arthur W. Frank, author of The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics

"This book is gripping and inspired. . . . It will be of great solace and usefulness to others who find themselves in such circumstances, part of the literature of family disaster. It will find an audience as well among all those concerned with what might be called the construction of the self, which would include a good many in various psychological fields."—F. Robert Rodman, author of Not Dying: A Memoir