Joni

In a sense this isn’t a direct autobiography. We meet Joni at the start of the book when she feels as if she is drowning after bumping her head, until she is rescued by one of her sisters. It’s a huge shock to her system to find herself in hospital, unable to move anything other than her head. From dreams of college and independence, she is entirely dependent on the hospital staff, and unsure whether she will survive.

The rest of the book charts her progress, including two operations, and a great deal of pain. The emotional pain is even worse; she feels useless, deeply depressed, and determined not to survive. She becomes angry with God, then unsure whether or not He exists - when she is able to read (with assistance) she studies show more agnostic and atheist philosophers and gets into debate with folk around her. It’s a powerful story, and Joni’s battles with depression (and other problems) are told openly and honestly.

My only reservation with the book is the amount of ‘preaching’. It’s not that I disagree with the principles; as a Christian believer myself, I fully understand how Joni’s faith was challenged, and the importance of her dedicating her life again to Jesus. But at times it seemed there was too much direct exposition, written in rather stilted conversational form, that did not feel realistic or particularly helpful. Perhaps it’s more valuable to those who are not already aware of these principles, and yet my suspicion is that many would find them offputting, and would have preferred a bit more subtlety.

With that proviso, I found this book (on my third reading in thirty years) well-written and well-paced, and enjoyed it very much. show less

This was the first adult book I ever read... I was five years old, and I pulled it out of my mom's purse and started reading it while I was supposed to be napping. Kindof heavy for a small child (Joni is an artist who is now a quadraplegic after a diving accident as a teenager) but an amazing, inspiring, and very honestly related story, right down to the details of her struggle to continue to believe in God after losing all feeling and movement below her neck.

This is story has stood the test of time, and so has the person. Joni was an ordinary teenager who went through some extraordinary circumstances. This story tells of her swimming accident that left her a quadraplegic and of the years that followed of how she and those around her coped with her handicap. It is a moving story that has a moving ending, but if you have followed the life of Joni, the story still hasn't ended and it continues to get more surprising.

The unforgettable story of a young woman's struggle against quadriplegia & depression. She tells about her diving accident and all the trials & despair, hope and all the ways God was in her life helping her to go forward. In one of her speaking engagements she said, When i was in high school, I acted selfishly & never on any long lasting values, but lived for each day & what I wanted. Read how God changed her attitude to the wisdom in trustingGod, not asking "Why God?"

The autobiography of a young woman who was paralyzed in a diving accident in 1967. She describes her physical, mental, emotional and spiritual struggles dealing with the reality of being a quadriplegic at the age of 17. There were some parts I had to skip while reading it out loud to my kids, due to talk about sexual temptations and sin.

A great testimonie of a young christian who though went though a terrible accident and disabltie in her life still believed and prayed to God.

I read this when I was junior high. It was very inspirational. Many of my friends were reading it at that time. At one point, I acquired a few back issues of Western Horseman from the 1960's and in one of them I discovered a letter from Joni in the pen-pal section of the magazine, written before her paralysis. I still have that magazine.