ASHOK RAJAMANI
pulitzer prize-luminary commended author
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-Barnes & Noble
"First-time author Rajamani delivers a fascinating look at his life and his recovery as a brain-injury patient that is both heartbreaking and uplifting."
-Publisher’s Weekly
In this frank and witty account of his own brain "explosion," Rajamani describes in vivid detail the circumstances leading to the injury, and its devastating aftermath on both his family and himself, including chronic epilepsy and a freak form of blindness affecting the left side of each eye. With disarming drollery, the author also recounts his racism-tainted upbringing as an Indian American in white-dominated Suburban Chicago. Shedding much-needed light on a little-known medical trauma, Rajamani's sharp-edged prose is both informative and inspiring, especially for the many marginalized sufferers of brain injury and those close to him."
-Booklist
"A fierce, funny, fascinating memoir of a man's battle back from a brain injury that damaged his body but resurrected his spirit and themeaning of his life."
--Wade Rouse,
Author of "At Least in the city Someone Could Hear Me Scream"
"...good-humored and self-deprecating... deals with his drama elegantly."
-Harper’s Magazine
"A pretty wild book."
--BBC
“With piercing prose, Rajamani beautifully captures an experience unknown to most. He reminds us that the body is remarkably adaptable and that new values surface after physical changes occur. The Day My Brain Exploded will take you to new places within yourself—it will leave a lasting imprint in your consciousness."
-Belo Miguel Cipriani,
author of "Blind: A Memoir"
"Extraordinary...very personal."
--CBS Radio
“Rajamani doesn’t hold anything back
in his memoir; his honesty is commendable… readers who enjoy raw and unflinching journeys of self-discovery will appreciate his ‘no-holds barred’ writing style.”
--ALA/American Library Association
"Rajamani painstakingly records his advance back into the world through actions, therapy and a very strong
will to succeed. Through it all, he keeps
a sense of humor, though extremely edgy at times, that I believe is so integral in healing and moving on.
This is a great book. "
--Dew on the Kudzu Magazine
"This memoir is so important... for anyone who is suffering a disability, especially a brain-related disability."
--David McMillan,
"Strategies for Living" Radio
"The hope Rajamani offers is simple yet profound. His wisdom is gained from such clarity as is often borne of catastrophe."
--The Courier-Journal
"Rajamani mostly tells his story with humor and irreverence, but his recounting of his painful recovery period is moving and heartfelt. He is an inspired survivor who weaves a revelatory tale of overcoming enormous odds." --PositScience.com
"The story unfolds like a flower blooming. Powerful, hardcore honesty, and humor all make this a book I would recommend to anyone... thanks to Ashok for opening up and sharing so honestly. Shocking, amazing, powerful -- it makes for a superb book."
--Melinda Gustafson Gervasi, author of "Illness, Death, and Taxes for the Middle Class"
“The Day My Brain Exploded is a memoir of epistemology. Ashok Rajamani shares how a man rebuilds a life of the mind. His prose is at once witty and probing, persistent and clear. If the brain could write an autobiography this would be it."
-- Stephen Kuusisto,
Author of "Planet of the Blind"
"Brilliant and Engaging. Perfect sarcastic humor...
a hilarious, irreverent, fascinating Holden Caulfield-esque story of a 25-year-old 'brain-damaged, Indian American redneck.'"
-School Library Journal
"A uniquely humor-filled memoir."
--Open City Magazine
"This memoir is heart wrenching with raw emotion and honesty. After suffering an aneurysm, Ashok Rajamani begins the recovery process with pain, anger, wonder, and discovery. Ashok portrays his experience and rehabilitation with clarity and honesty, which most of us will never endure."
--Library Thing
"Rajamani takes you through your own gamut of emotions as you share his story of the event and the therapy and recovery which is continual. You cry. You laugh. You feel pity, sympathy and empathy.
What a diary to be able to read."
--Rebecca Holland,
Author of "From the Nightstand"
"With a self-deprecating tone... between humor and anger..." Rajamani details the cerebral hemorrhage and the damage it caused. The book jumps back and forth in time, from the “brain explosion” that left him epileptic and partially blind, to his childhood growing up as a first-generation Indian American in suburban Illinois, and to his post-college years working in New York. Rajamani describes what it is like to relearn the most basic of skills — how to walk, to eat, to speak — as an adult. “True, what I went through was terrible and, true, I wasn’t always patient with those around me,” he writes. “But I realize now, looking back, I am one of the luckiest people alive, and in telling my story I am hoping to give a voice to others who were not so fortunate."
-Washington Post
-Washington Post
An articulate biography written from the heart."
--garamchai.com
"...a hopeful book about what life is really like for a twentysomething who falls down a rabbit hole but doesn't end up in Wonderland. Instead, he finds a nightmare that won't end without the strength of character that he never knew he had.”
-PBS
"Rajamani's account is personal, inspiring, terrifying, and funny. This is a courageous memoir."
The Times of India
"While it’s a marvel that he survived—most people don’t make it after such traumatic injuries—what’s a miracle is that he recovered sufficiently to write such an eloquent book about his ordeal."
--Khabar Magazine
"Rajamani’s tale is a memoir describing the course of his life before and his recovery following a rather catastrophic hemorrhagic stroke. It’s full of irreverent rapier wit and artfully written prose, and speaks to a lot of issues that are seldom acknowledged—including life as a second-generation American struggling to assimilate in a society that will never truly accept him, and the stigmas and perceptions that surround afflictions of the brain and mind. Rajamani does his best to underscore the importance of all that with a healthy dose of gallows humor."
--"Time-out-of-life," Tumblr
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1565129970
ISBN-13: 978-1565129979
ALL ABOUT THE DAY MY BRAIN EXPLODED:
A True Story
The Pulitzer Prize
Luminary-Commended Memoir