New Life, No Instructions: A Memoir

I love Gail Caldwell.

I first realized this while reading Let’s Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship, which is about the death of her best friend, fellow memoirist Caroline Knapp. (You can read that review here. Or the review of Caroline’s memoir here.) She just seems so down-to-earth, wise, insightful. She’s overcome her share of hardships. She’s interesting. As I believe I mentioned in my review of Let’s Take the Long Way Home, I feel I have a lot in common with Gail. Both lovers of books, dogs, and solitude, I think in a different life we would have been good friends.

I wasn’t sure what New Life, No Instructions was about; the flap text was very vague and danced around the book’s actual premise without stating show more it directly. So, I’ll tell you here: this memoir is about Gail’s hip replacement surgery. Which, to be honest, does sound less than exciting when I say it like that. But the story is about much more than that: her childhood polio; her new dog, Tula; her mother; her rowing. It’s a beautiful memoir about support systems, human-canine relationships, physical decline, and healing. It’s about reorienting yourself, your perspective, and your life when things change–when you get a new dog, when you lose a friend or a parent, or when your bum leg is lengthened.

It doesn’t matter if you’re sixty years old and getting your own hip replaced or twenty-five with perfect joints; there’s something in this memoir for everyone. show less

Three years ago, I listened to Gail Caldwell's memoir about the loss of a dear friend - Let's Take the Long Way Home. I found her voice honest. She cut to the heart of a difficult time, finding words to explain it that were uniquely hers, but also hauntingly universal. The same was true of her latest memoir, New Life, No Instructions. The focus of this book is her hip replacement surgery, caused by complications from childhood polio. Without family close by, Gail relies on a collection of friends to help her through the decision to have the surgery and the rehabilitation afterward. She describes the despair she felt when her beloved dog Tula was scared of her (with her strange smells and movements) after surgery, and the challenges of show more getting used to her lengthened leg. Again, it was not the events that were described in this book that were so striking. Instead, it was Gail's voice, her honesty about the joys and the pains of her life, that kept me engaged. In the end, it felt like the end of a visit with a good friend. show less

It took me a little bit to get into this book, but once I did I loved it. This beautifully written memoir recounts the mid-life crisis the author felt when her physical health deteriorated to the point that she feared for her future mobility and independence. Ms. Caldwell faced these issues while still dealing with the death of her mother, and of a beloved dog. Her strong circle of friends, family, and a new pet in her life, helped support her during this episode. But her strong determination to regain lost strength and function were the most impactful part of the story for me. I read this while facing some physical challenges and similar fears of my own, and Gail Caldwell's hard work to enhance her recovery were inspiring, and helped show more me to remind myself to keep working diligently. show less

A big 'Thank You' to NetGalley for an e-copy of this latest book by Gail Caldwell.

This is the second book I've read by this author and I have thoroughly enjoyed both of them. She's an expert at getting her point across using plain English, no bad language, and exceptional prose.

Ms. Caldwell can take ordinary happenings in life, or not so ordinary in her case in this book, and writes a story that leaves me wanting more. She has suffered immeasurable loss in recent years and writing about it seems to make her an even stronger writer.

In this memoir, she must undergo a total hip replacement after suffering so much pain for most of her life due to polio as an infant. She includes her friends, her doctors, and of course, her new dog, and show more weaves this situation into a story with many beautiful passages. There is also emphasis on her parents, especially her mother, an extraordinary woman who helped Gail in many ways.

I love to read this remarkable author and will patiently await her next novel/memoir. show less

To take walking for granted is to fail to appreciate how integral it is to our lives and to our image of ourselves. This is a rewarding read for anyone who has struggled with pain and rehabilitation.

Fans of Gail Caldwell will enjoy her latest story of her ordeal with hip replacement surgery as a result of childhood polio.
She has a very fresh, honest style of writing.

I haven't read any of the author's other books, and that may be the reason why I didn't love it.

I found the writing to be disjointed and jumping around between past and present too much, so that I got lost in what the author was trying to say.

I found that a shame, because some portions of the book were truly moving and interesting, but it lacked cohesiveness for me.