Love You, Mean It by Patricia Carrington, Julia Collins, Ann Haynes, Eve Charles and Claudia Gerbasi

Love You, Mean It: A True Story of Love, Loss, and Friendship by Patricia Carrington
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 4 days

Pages - 336

Publisher - Hatchette Books

Source - Bought

Blurb from Amazon

How would you feel and what would you do if, one glorious, sunny day your partner and love were to die suddenly, when all he did was go to work and you didn't even wake up properly to say goodbye? How could you possibly cope?

In Love You, Mean It, four women whose husbands died in the World Trade Center tell their own, very remarkable, moving and honest stories, the stories of their very different marriages, the paths that led them to September 11th.

They explain how it was only when they came together, drawn as much by their diverse backgrounds as their shared tragedy, that their mutual support and love saw them through their darkest hours. The truths they discovered in the process are universal, compelling and altogether inspiring.



My Review


Four widows sharing their stories of their lives, the morning the twin towers were attacked, the devastation and how each of them started that day and what followed. We hear about how they met their husbands, their lives together, how their morning started that horrific day that changed theirs and so many lives.

Not only do we get to know the wives, we learn about their husbands who died and how much was taken from them. How they found each other, their friendship cemented and how they got each other through some of the hardest moments you can only imagine. Their last moments together, of normality and their worlds being shattered. I remember that day, I think pretty much everyone does, I remember being in shock, horrified, sad and not knowing what to say, you couldn't believe what you were seeing. So to be someone actually living there, having a loved one near or in there, it is very emotive dipping into these ladies lives.

The stories are told through their words, experiences and they share their grief and raw emotions from hearing their worlds have been torn apart to trying to self heal, recover and face a life without their loved ones. It is a very emotive read and I it takes you back to that day, the images and news footage - I couldn't stop thinking about it, 4/5 for me.

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Working Stiff by Judy Melinek and T J Mitchell

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner by Judy Melinek
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Time taken to read - 1 day

Pages - 258

Publisher - Scribner

Source - Amazon

Blurb from Goodreads

The fearless memoir of a young forensic pathologist's rookie season as a NYC medical examiner, and the cases, hair-raising and heartbreaking and impossibly complex, that shaped her as both a physician and a mother.

Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation, performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines flight 587.

Lively, action-packed, and loaded with mordant wit, Working Stiff offers a firsthand account of daily life in one of America's most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies, and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on shows like CSI and Law and Order to reveal the secret story of the real morgue.



My Review

Books like this I do enjoy reading, if enjoy is the correct word, you learn things about the human body usually picking up terms, diseases and conditions which I then go off and read up on. This isn't heavily packed with that kind of stuff but there are dotterings throughout. You learn about their job but for the most part you get the chunk of what rolls through the mortuary doors.

Some of the book may be quite emotive for some as she examines many different types of deaths, September 11th is also covered and whilst I am UK I remember how I felt/feel reading that so just a headsup. It is gorey and gruesome in parts, heartbreaking, sad and if you have lost someone to suicide you will either agree with her thoughts of be absolutely livid, again just a heads up.

It is an interesting book I could have read this in one sitting had things not got in the way. Easily enough to follow, gripping and grueling accounts of truth deaths so it is sad in parts but really interesting. Some parts may shock you as you know this is real life and not conjured up in the authors brain. This was my first read by this author, I will certainly be checking to see if she has written anything else, books or other publications. 4/5 for me this time, I wouldn't read it just before or after a meal though!

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