Name: I Am, I Am, I Am
Rating: 4.089285714285714 (84 reviews)
ISBN: 9780525520221

Maggie O'Farrell

Originally published: London: Tinder Press, 2017.

Seventeen Brushes with Death

I Am, I Am, I Am

On seventeen occasions, award-winning novelist Maggie O’Farrell has stared death in the face—and lived to tell the tale. In this astonishing memoir, the New York Times bestselling author of Hamnet shares the near-death experiences that have punctuated and defined her life. The childhood illness that left her bedridden for a year, which she was not expected to survive. A teenage yearning to escape that nearly ended in disaster. An encounter with a disturbed man on a remote path. And, most terrifying of all, an ongoing, daily struggle to protect her daughter from a condition that leaves her unimaginably vulnerable to life’s myriad dangers. Here, O’Farrell stiches together these discrete encounters to tell the story of her entire life. In taut prose that vibrates with electricity and restrained emotion, she captures the perils running just beneath the surface, and illuminates the preciousness, beauty, and mysteries of life itself.

Teresa Bonifácio

I loved it! I think the penultimate chapter shows us why she sometimes puts herself in situations where she takes more risks. When you go through what she went through, you end up giving another value to things that, most of the time, we think of as “normal”. Walking, running, writing, moving an arm, a hand.

The last chapter made me cry. So well written. Such a good description of what it's like to be a mother of someone with the condition your daughter has.

Alex Q

I found this book to be well written, and deeply personal. But I also found that I just did not care.

Emily Morgan

I think I will be crying over this book for eternity. Too beautiful too sad too hopeful

Sarahi Flores

This is more of a 3.5 stars. 
As vivid as this memoir was, it was written profoundly. 

Check out my blog to read more of my thoughts of this memoir.

Renee Blankenship

Having not read any of Maggie O'Farrell's novels, I wasn't sure what to expect from her book I AM I AM I AM. A memoir, this collection of stories illustrates seventeen brushes with death and their affect on O'Farrell's life (emotionally and physically). Thank you Aaknopf of my free copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Each of the stories, some shorter than others, left me with a sense of fear, disbelief, anxiety. O'Farrell writes beautifully and in such a way that you can almost place yourself in her shoes. Reaching for those silver steps under the water, frantically searching for the lock button in your car, hoping against hope that man on the path means you no harm. A few of the stories left me shocked, I can't imagine all seventeen of these scenarios playing out in my own life. Even one or two of them would be more than enough for a person to rationalize. 

"If you are aware of these moments, they will alter you. You can try to forget them, to turn away form them, to shrug them off, but they will have infiltrated you, whether you like it or not." p.32

I sought out this book specifically because of my own experience following the birth of my son five years ago. An event that did not go as planned for myself and left me feeling shocked, pieces of myself strewn about that I clumsily tried to pick up and put back together in the first weeks and months at home with my brand new baby. Knowing one of O'Farrell's stories centered around her own near death labor experience, I was curious. I wanted to read this not just for the "what happened" but for how she put herself back together afterwards. There are few people in my own personal life I can discuss this topic with in any sort of depth, when it comes to having someone truly understand how something like this can shape you. 

When I finally reached the last story, I was tempted to go back and reread a few of chapter. By the end O'Farrell's words had crescendoed to a larger sense of hope. This woman who had escaped deaths grasp so many times, in moments that had one thing or the other happened instead....well it just puts life in perspective. Her strength to battle on, knowing that death can be around any corner at any time (she has proof!) is truly inspiring. Im sure that many people would have been crushed under the weight of just some of those experiences, let alone all of them. I spent a lot of time discussing some of this with my husband as I was reading, including a few "what would you do" moments. One of my favorite parts of reading a good book is wanting to share it with him, to discuss what is happening in a story or bounce my thoughts off of him. 

Thank you Aaknopf for this copy! I truly enjoyed reading it.

Après le succès d' Assez de bleu dans le ciel, Maggie O'Farrell revient avec un nouveau tour de force littéraire. Poétique, subtile, intense, une œuvre à part qui nous parle tout à la fois de féminisme, de maternité, de violence, de peur et d'amour, portée par une construction vertigineuse. Une romancière à l'apogée de son talent. Il y a ce cou, qui a manqué être étranglé par un violeur en Écosse. Il y a ces poumons, qui ont cessé leur œuvre quelques instants dans l'eau glacée. Il y a ce ventre, meurtri par les traumatismes de l'accouchement... Dix-sept instants. Dix-sept petites morts. Dix-sept résurrections. Je suis, je suis, je suis. I am, I am, I am.

I Am, I Am, I Am Seventeen Brushes with Death

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