May is National ALS Awareness Month, and this is a touching first person essay about living with ALS (otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). It opens and closes with the computer-generated voice of ALS sufferer Seth Carey, because the disease takes away use of the body and voice. Seth's uncle reads the middle of the essay. Seth imagines the absolute worst thing as being able to think and feel but unable to move, and that's the situation he finds himself in. It's a heart-rending piece that is very well written. The narration by Seth's uncle doesn't work well for me because of the vocal quality, and distracts from the piece, but overall it has a lot of impact in creating a mental picture of this disease.
Review of The Absolute Worst Thing
Phil Corriveau
Posted on May 04, 2006 at 02:39 PM
May is National ALS Awareness Month, and this is a touching first person essay about living with ALS (otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). It opens and closes with the computer-generated voice of ALS sufferer Seth Carey, because the disease takes away use of the body and voice. Seth's uncle reads the middle of the essay. Seth imagines the absolute worst thing as being able to think and feel but unable to move, and that's the situation he finds himself in. It's a heart-rending piece that is very well written. The narration by Seth's uncle doesn't work well for me because of the vocal quality, and distracts from the piece, but overall it has a lot of impact in creating a mental picture of this disease.