One Particular Harbor
by Janet Lee James


A different perspective review by DeanOP
MSWorld Book Reviewer



I wanted to write about Ms. James' book again. The first review was for people with MS in general, but this one is for Ms. James, herself. I can only see Ms. James' form of MS "through a glass, darkly", (thank the Deity). And for that reason I can't really imagine, viscerally descriptive though her writing was, what it must be like to find oneself so completely out-of-control with little hope of improvement and no end but death in sight. I wrote, initially, that she essentially wise-cracks her way through the book. It is difficult to "watch" someone joke while they are decompensating so quickly. It's a little horrifying, actually. But given what she has to say about how MS has affected her, given how emotionally devastated she must have been as it was happening, and may still be, she has every right to wise-crack... "gallows humor", I believe it's called. I wrote, initially, that her relationships with others seemed mainly to be about what they did for her, and not so much what she gave in return. I now think perhaps the book she wrote is what she gave in return. It moves me deeply to think, as I now do, that this book may have been her way of saying "thanks" and "goodbye" to people and experiences she could never know or have again.


Whether or not she asks it of her readers, I am very, very sorry for Ms. James. I think of her often. I think of my own forms of denial and how hard it is to read of someone with "your" disease who is really, really not getting better. I still would not recommend the book to people with MS, due to the highly graphic descriptions of the most difficult-to-endure form of MS, i.e. Primary (and rapidly) Progressive. I still feel that it would tend to depress and frighten rather than up-lift, entertain, and/or educate. But I do believe that Ms. James' choosing to write of her experience is a gift. It is her way of trying to continue to be in the world. And I respect that.


To view first review, click here.