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Book Review
Not by Accident Reconstructing a Careless Life
by Samantha Dunn
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
Published: March 2002
| About the Book | About the Author | The Review | Where to Order |
About the Book
A nearly fatal riding accident forces a young woman to examine just what it is inside herself -- and other people -- that invites carelessness and injury.
"God touches us with a feather to get our attention. Then, if we don't listen, he starts throwing bricks."
While leading her horse across a narrow creek in the canyons of California, Samantha Dunn suffered a life-threatening accident as her horse inadvertently jumped on her leg, splitting it open and severing vital muscles and veins. Had a stranger not happened upon the scene, it's doubtful she would have survived.
This wasn't the first such incident -- although it was the most serious -- in a life filled with carelessness, risk-taking, and injuries. In this reflective yet humorous memoir, Dunn takes the reader through the stages of her long and painful recovery, the most important of which involved serious self-examination. A pattern of accidents, she learned, indicates other deeper issues bubbling below the surface. This last, near-fatal episode was a subconscious wake-up call to pay attention to everything she had been looking away from: her horse, who had shown clear signs of panic, and especially her complicated past and home life -- including her seriously troubled marriage.
Dunn got back on the horse -- literally and figuratively. How she did it makes for an entertaining, touching, and insightful book, memoir at its best.
About the Author
Samantha Dunn
Samantha Dunn was raised in northern New Mexico and spent years in Australia and France. Her novel Failing Paris was nominated for the PEN/West award. She lives in southern California.
The Review
Samantha Dunn's no-holds-barred approach to confessing her life's tale makes Not by Accident extremely compelling to read. It flows as if it were an entertaining, fictional story. It affects the emotions by being a memoir. A real person, with a real life.
~February 2002
Where to Buy
Amazon.com
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