Most books dealing with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are written by the family members or doctors of the TBI recipient. They offer basic advice and tips on how to deal with living with a TBI. TBI Hell: A Traumatic Brain Injury Really Sucks by Geo Gosling is different. It was written by a TBI patient and describes the trials involved for an adult male who has received a very severe brain injury.

Despite Gosling’s liberal use of humor, this is not an easy book—but there is nothing easy about brain injury. Gosling experiences a wrenching end to a therapeutic relationship that will be familiar to many TBI sufferers. His injury causes inappropriate social behavior that he was unable to see and accept, which he needed more counseling to address. Even the many technical mistakes in the writing lend themselves to the “realness” of the narrative.

Gosling spends the majority of the book expressing his frustrations, which may be refreshing for some readers but confusing or even depressing for others. The innovative first-person perspective also has its downside. Due to the unique nature of TBI, Gosling only scratches the surface of what he and other brain injury sufferers experience.

TBI Hell will leave a sour taste in the mouth of many readers. But others will recommend it—not for its humor or comfort, but for the underlying story of despair, frustration, and mourning for the person one used to be.

Publisher: Outskirts Press
Publish date: December 9, 2006
164 pages
ISBN-10: 159800722X
ISBN-13: 978-1598007220