Simon & Schuster Ghost Boy

Good quality cover and nice paper quality gif story

One Saturday morning a while back, I turned on the car radio. It was turned to radio four where an interviewer was conversing with someone using a speech synthesiser to reply. At first I suspected it was an interview with Prof Steven Hawking but the voice intonation was different as was the subject. It turned out to be an interview with Martin Pistorius. Following listening to the programme I came home, went straight on line and ordered the book. I was swallowed up in it's depths immediately. In 1988 aged 12 Martin became ill with a disease that no one could diagnose nor cure nor even delay as it totally shut down his entire body and higher brain. In a few months he was wheelchair bound and unable to interact with the world in anyway. He was not expected to live. What nobody was aware of was that at some point along the way Martin's mind started to awaken once more, leaving him aware but trapped inside an unresponsive shell of a body. Amazingly some 10 years later, a visiting aromatherapist felt that Martin was, at some level, aware and responsive. Despite the experts original dismissive attitude, Martin's parents strove to have him assessed. It soon began to become clear that inside this non-functioning body was a mind as intelligent and alert as it had once been. Martin's abilities and desire to communicate with the world around him along with his parent's beliefs in him helped him forge his way back from the dark world in habited as a ghost boy and to emerge once more into the light of a life where he could learn, teach, travel, meet, fall in love with and ultimately marry the woman who had fallen in love with him too. This book is truly amazing; not simply because of the subject matter of Martin's life but for all the nuances - some dark, some light - which pepper the fabric of his story. A soul lifting story of a struggle, the type of which none of us can ever truly understand for ourselves. A five star read.

Un livre merveilleux à mettre entre toutes les mains, qui témoigne des pouvoirs de l'esprit humain et ses trésors de résilience.

Das Buch erzählt die Wahre Geschichte eines Manes aus Südafrika. Ich fand es nicht nur interessant sondern auch informativ.

The subtitle nearly put me off as it implies there would be a relentless catalogue of harrowing accounts of a young boy suffering at the hands of the cruel and heartless – and I would struggle to cope with witnessing that horror. Yes, there were some tears – I needed a few tissues at times, but not a whole box. In fact, it is full of inspiration, resourcefulness, love and a powerful lesson that people are far more than their disabilities, however profound and limiting. To watch Martin develop and make a life for himself out of sheer determination, the support and belief of his family, and some help along the way from others was so compelling that I just kept on reading – just had to know the whole story. There was no self-pity, no anger, no bitterness, just an overwhelming hunger and thirst to consume every ounce of happiness and success out of every minute of every day. I feel energised and optimistic and grateful that Martin was willing and able to paint this honest picture of how precious life is.