Gabby by Mark Kelly and Gabrielle Giffords, with Jeffrey Zaslow (2011. Scribner. ISBN 978-1-4516-6106-4)
On January 8, 2011, a gunman came to a “Congressman on the Corner” event in Tucson, Arizona where Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was meeting her constituents, taking in their concerns, and preparing for another term in the United States House of Representatives. Six people were shot to death, including Christina Taylor-Green, a ten year old girl who was there because she had a youthful interest in American politics. Gabby was shot in the head, the bullet shattering her skull and traveling through much of one side of her brain. She was not expected to live. She did, as did twelve other victims of that senseless and cowardly attack. Though this is a story about Gabby Giffords and her space shuttle flying husband, Astronaut Mark Kelly, it is not a story of that day. It is more a story of before and after.
Well written with the assistance of Zaslow, this is a love story of two folks who found each other after traveling separate lives. Kelly, married at the time the pair first met, was in a relationship with his first wife that was on the rocks, though, as he is quick to point out, the marriage produced two lovely daughters. This is not a tale of a torrid love affair between the congresswoman and the rocket man which wrecked a marriage: There was nothing sensual or sexual about Gabby and Mark’s first meeting. But, over time, after Mark was divorced, fate cast them together and brought love. That’s the before: the disparate upbringings, childhoods, familial histories, and educational paths of two adults who find each other in the vastness that is America.
The after is the scary, tortuous, and painful rehabilitation that Gabby begins once she is able to open her eyes after a drug-induced coma. A third of her skull is removed to allow her brain to swell without complications. Her blond hair, long a sign of her femininity, is gone to facilitate multiple surgeries to save her life. At first, even with the tracheotomy tube removed, she cannot speak. And when she finally can speak, she cannot find the words. And when she finally does discover the right words, she cannot speak in sentences or form questions. Her right hand, her dominant hand, hangs useless by her side. A once vibrant, energetic, moderate young female congresswoman (a Democrat who sometimes broke from her party over issues like capital punishment and border security) is reduced to tears and slow, painful attempts to rewire her brain. During the after, Mark continues to serve NASA as a commander in the space shuttle program, training for and undertaking missions with the full blessing of his rehabilitating wife. It is, in many ways, the ultimate story of America, its tragedies and triumphs, its tenderness and hubris as a culture and nation.
This isn’t great biography or literature. It is very simply written. One can discern Zaslow’s hand as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal behind the prose of this book. But the book reads well and the editorial choices Gabby, Mark, and their collaborator make, including never mentioning the shooter by name anywhere in the text, make for a solid read. Yes, it’s true: I cried at least four times during the time I spent with Gabby and Mark. You will too.
4 starts out of 5.
