Book Review: Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words by Marty Jezer

Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words
by Marty Jezer

This book is best described as poignant, real, and hugely courageous!

I was profoundly moved as I followed the personal odyssey of Marty Jezer, a man who struggles with a life-long severe stutter, and the impact that it has on his life, psyche, and human spirit.

Born with a garrulous nature, a love for comedy, and a yearning to tell jokes, Marty fancied himself a future stand up comic. But those hopes were dashed by the reality of his "having a handicap in his mouth."

As Marty so eloquently points out throughout his book, stuttering is more than a speech disorder. It is a blow to the psyche, and an impediment to the fulfillment of the basic human need to communicate and to connect with others.

Rather than offering a trite paraphrase, I'll let the author speak to you in his own, beautifully articulate words:

"People react to stuttered speech differently than they do to fluent speech. They fidget, they cover their eyes, they interrupt, they say the word they think you are trying to say, they give advice, they make faces, they mimic, they laugh, they look away, they walk away---and the wound cuts deeper. For the child that stutters, and for the adult whose stuttering has become chronic, speech is not a medium for communication but a recording of humiliation, a confirmation of ineptitude, an indication of abnormality, a violation of what everyone else in the world considers fundamentally human."

With a refreshing and sometimes startling honesty, Mr. Jezer chronicles his life as a person with a severe stutter. He graciously gives you a front row seat, and lets you watch his childhood humiliations, the unraveling of romantic relationships, his angst in being a parent, and even his blackest moments as he fights to regain the will to live.

As this spell-binding saga unfolds, he also chronicles his quest for a cure---the numerous forms of speech therapy, psychological counseling, self-help groups, and even experimental drug therapy--and his arrival at a final destination of self-acceptance and self-actualization.

Despite the complexity of the phenomenon of stuttering and it's various treatments, Mr. Jezer manages to keep the the technical aspects light, informative and understandable. And in spite of the huge suffering a person that stutters endures, he avoids being maudlin. This book is amazingly balanced in its presentation of what stuttering is and how people that live with it, struggle to survive in the real world.

Are you a person who stutters? Read this book. You will keenly identify with the author, admire his pluck and cheer at all his wonderful triumphs.

Are you a fluent person that knows someone that stutters? Read this book. It will help you slip into the skin, the mind, and the heart of your loved one, and you will

learn so much!

To write the author, and to order a copy of Stuttering: A Life Bound Up in Words contact:

Small Pond Press
22 Prospect Street
Brattleboro, VT 05301
(802) 254-9595
http://www.smallpondpress.com
info@smallpondpress.com