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WORK TITLE: Where I End
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.whereiendbook.com/
CITY: Wheaton
STATE: IL
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
married with two kids. https://www.whereiendbook.com/connect/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Detroit, MI; married; children: two
EDUCATION:Attended the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Dallas Theological Seminary.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Has worked for Christian radio and in counseling ministry.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Katherine Elizabeth Clark attended the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Dallas Theological Seminary. She met and married a fellow theologian and went on to work in counseling ministry, as well as for a national Christian radio station. Clark and her husband have two children, and Clark writes about how a devastating injury in 2009 affected her family. In her 2018 memoir, Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope, Clark explains that she was in her thirties and on a playground filled with children, when a boy jumped off of a jungle gym and landed on her head. Clark fell and snapped her neck. The incident left her paralyzed from the neck down. As Clark notes in her memoir, the injury was similar to that sustained by famed actor Christopher Reeve; yet, unlike Reeve, Clark has learned to walk again. She charts her painful and uncertain journey through recovery. From terrifying surgeries to years of physical therapy, Clark frames her recovery as a matter of faith. Clark writes that she put her trust in God and did her best not to let her injury affect her children. Clark also writes of the grief she felt for her old life; knowing that even if she did walk again, she would never be the same.
Reviews of Where I End were largely positive, and critics praised Clark for her honest and poignant insights. A Publishers Weekly contributor called the memoir “heartbreaking” and “soul-enriching,” and the contributor also advised that “Clark’s uplifting book is a testament to her tenacious spirit.” Celina Lynnette Blog, writing on her eponymous blog, was also impressed, and she found that Clark’s “story is miraculous. And heroic. She constantly thought of her children, how to spare them from even more pain and trauma, even while she herself was in the midst of extreme pain. The last chapters clarify that she still does that. Her life–hers and her family’s–will never be the same, will never be ‘normal’ again. But she has found a way to cope and handle it.” As an online Gravel Musings columnist put it: “This is a good book, a warrior’s book, a book about not giving up. While, yes, Katherine can walk again, it would be tempting to want to give up because of the loss she has experienced. And yet she chooses to move forward in gratitude for what she can do.”
BIOCRIT
BOOKS
Clark, Katherine Elizabeth, Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope, Moody (Chicago, IL), 2018.
PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2017, review of Where I End.
ONLINE
Celina Lynnette Blog, https://celinalynnette.wordpress.com/ (March 14, 2018), Celina Lynette, review of Where I End.
Gravel Road Musings, http://gravelroadmusings.blogspot.com/ (February 7, 2018), review of Where I End.
Steemit, https://steemit.com/ (February 1, 2018), review of Where I End.
Where I End Website, https://www.whereiendbook.com (April 3, 2018).
ABOUT KATHERINE
Katherine Elizabeth Clark is wife to a gifted theologian and a mom to two bright kids, all of whom bring merriment and humor to her days. A native of Detroit, Kate has had the privilege of living in several great cities, including Dallas, Toronto, Grand Rapids, and Chicago. Kate studied at the University of Michigan, Wayne State University, and Dallas Theological Seminary. With a background in psychology, she spent much of her last twenty years working and writing for a nationwide Christian radio and counseling ministry. When she's not writing, Kate enjoys spending time outdoors, cooking new recipes with her kids, and immersing herself in books. The Clarks live in Wheaton, IL.
Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope
Publishers Weekly. 264.46 (Nov. 13, 2017): p60.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope
Katherine Elizabeth Clark. Moody, $12.99 trade paper (192p) ISBN 978-0-8024-1683-4
Clark's heartbreaking, soul-enriching debut memoir candidly recounts how a playground accident altered her life. In 2009, a boy bounded into the air and crashed onto her head. Clark, who was in her late 30s at the time of the accident, writes of how she was informed about the seriousness of her injury: "[The surgeon] told us that I had suffered a Christopher Reeve--level injury, not only dangerously high [on her spine] but gravely serious." Thus began Clark's painful and often terrifying battle to regain her ability to use her limbs which included years of arduous physical rehabilitation. Readers will value the skillful manner in which Clark meshes her emotional highs and lows with her effort to trust God during a lengthy recovery that was filled with grief. "We all have a deep appreciation for the truth that we're fearfully and wonderfully made," she writes. "And for that very reason, we grieve.... Because grief is the faithful response to loss." Filled with clear-eyed explanations of how faith inspired her to hope, Clark's uplifting book is a testament to her tenacious spirit. (Jan.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Where I End: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope." Publishers Weekly, 13 Nov. 2017, p. 60. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A515326059/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=03deb472. Accessed 4 Mar. 2018.
Where I End by Katherine Elizabeth Clark
WHERE I END: A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope
A story of tragedy, truth, and rebellious hope.
It was an ordinary Friday, wait that's not quite true. It was the last Friday of the school year, so it was the last day Katherine was going to go read in her son's classroom. She went and read, ate lunch and then decided to play tag with the kids. At the precise moment she ran under the jungle gym, the little boy on top decided to jump off of them. He landed on her neck and broke it, paralyzing her from the neck down. He ended up with a fractured elbow.
This is the story of Katherine's journey from that day on. I'm not even sure if story does it justice. Katherine doesn't dwell a lot on the injury, but she does dwell a lot on God and His place in her story and in stories in general. Through a miracle of God, Katherine was able to walk again. If I understood it right, 40 days after the accident, she was discharged home though she continued rehab. She learned to drive again, but she has been left with many, many things she can no longer do. She equates wearing gloves to how well her hands function, not only wearing gloves, but having no feeling except for burning pins and needles sensation. So activities of daily living are a challenge. She falls a lot. She didn't get to chase her children around the yard or go on hikes with them over rocky ground. She grieves that loss and yet she is grateful to be able to do as much as she can and she longs for the day when her health will be restored perfectly.
This book is her journey and it's inspiring. Like I said, there isn't that much said about the physical side of her accident, but there is a lot said about the spiritual side of her journey. Each chapter starts with a quote from a book and those quotes can be challenging in and of themselves. And then, Katherine has some really good things to say as well. Listen to this one I just randomly found this morning:
"There are moments in life when we must all come to terms with our smallness and fragility. Moments of truth when our hearts are recalibrated. Trifling anxieties and fears we've been collecting and hoarding lose their color. Folly is laid bare. The shallows of our heart make way for the deep. Our need for mercy and for someone to come and rescue us is brought into the light. In these moment, we are not, as some might presume, ashamed. Quite the opposite. Shedding the falsehood of autonomy and self-sufficiency, we can receive the love of Jesus and of others."
This is a good book, a warrior's book, a book about not giving up. While, yes, Katherine can walk again, it would be tempting to want to give up because of the loss she has experienced. And yet she chooses to move forward in gratitude for what she can do.
I received this book from Moody Publishers and was not required to write a positive review.
Book Review: Where I End
michellereneekid (51) in christian • last month
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Where I End
A Story of Tragedy, Truth, and Rebellious Hope
by Katherine Elizabeth Clark
Moody Publishers
Biographies & Memoirs , Christian
Pub Date 02 Jan 2018
I am reviewing a copy of Where I End through Moody Publishers and Netgalley:
Life can change in an Instant Katherine Elizabeth Clark knows this from experience. She was once an average wife until an accident in late May of 2009, a young boy on a Jungle Gym jumped and landed on Katherine's head knocking her over and snapping her neck, leaving her paralyzed from the neck down.
Suddenly Kate was facing a very different life than she had planned. After enduring surgery she finds herself lying trapped in her own body, unable to move.
A week after her surgery Kate Mary Free Bed a rehabilitation hospital that specializes in Spinal Cord Injuries.
The prognosis that was terrifying could have been the end of the story. But God chose to work a profound miracle in Kate's life and that of her families.
Kate learned she was an incomplete Quadriplegic so she was able to learn to walk
After 45 days in the Rehab Hospital Kate left with a Cane she could not hold very well.
Kate talks about celebrating her Son's eighth birthday in a great deal of pain, feeling dizzy and with a horrible headache she would later learn she had a UTI which can be fatal to a Quadriplegic.
Kate's story could have ended there, but it did not, God had other plans for her, Kate is a healed Quadriplegic!
She still has her struggles, but God has worked a miracle in Kate's life and that of her family.
I give Where I End five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!