The Long Awakening

September 23, 2013
Suffering a catastrophic blood loss after the birth of her fifth child, the author (If Mama Goes South, We're All Going With Her) is kept in a medically induced coma for 47 days while her husband, family, and friends fear she won't wake up. She does, but coming back from that "other world" somewhere between life and death isn't easy and, in many ways, a nightmare begins with the awakening. Using her skills as a journalist, O'Connor reconstructs what happened to her during those missing days by interviewing those who took care of her and the family. She discovers caring friends and a strong, loving family along with an increasing awareness that she no longer is the same person. She struggles with being physically and emotionally unable to resume her life or mother her infant. Her quest for meaning in being a "walking miracle" is honest, lyrical, and riveting â especially when she relates what she heard and thought while in the coma. The telling of the story can be at times long-winded, however, for the same reasons that people are sure you want to hear every detail of their recent hospital stay.