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4 out of 4 stars
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At times, adults think that children, especially those under the age of five, are too young to realize what’s happening within their surroundings. That’s not true. Children are very sensitive and begin to connect dots and seek explanations to different circumstances at a very young age. It’s, therefore, advisable that parents take good care of children so that their childhood doesn’t have adverse effects on their adult lives. Silent No More: An Intimate Portrait of How Trauma Affects Us All by Iram Gilani is a self-help book that not only narrates how the author survived several waves of abuse and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but also educates us on how to offer both emotional and physical assistance to trauma survivors.
Iram Gilani was born in Pakistan. Her parents wanted a “normal” boy after their first son was born with some brain developmental issues. After her three brothers died when they were only a few weeks old, Gilani’s mother had suffered emotionally. She couldn’t take care of Gilani and thought it wise to give her to their neighbors. Gilani grew up believing that these were her biological parents. When they finally moved to the USA, and her biological parents had to take her back, Gilani felt broken. This became a turning point for her. From here, she survives sexual abuses, physical assaults, gun violence, etc. How did she survive all these?
This is a very short book, with only 110 pages. It, however, contains very helpful tips on how to recover from trauma. After reading through the entire book, I’ve realized that it comprises two major parts: the first part is the author’s story. The second part contains several recovery tips and tricks on how to care for the trauma victims. This book is written in Gilani’s perspective. Most of it is written in the past simple tense, especially the first part about her life history.
This is an outstanding book for people who are experiencing abuse of any kind or those who are struggling with recovering from any kind of abuse. The author’s experiences not only give hope to these people but also point out some mistakes she made, during, and after the abuses, that hindered or delayed her recovery. This book is also an impressive piece of work to enable those living with these people, but do not understand how to offer any form of help to them. It gives some tips on how to listen and help these victims with the recovery process.
I’ve learned several things in this book. For example, the author gives several useful tips to help in recovery. There is one tip that I found very informative and which can apply to everyone. This was a tip on how to save money. The author gave a very elaborate explanation on how to determine how much you spend, and the amount to save. I also liked the author’s choice of words. I felt her pain by reading every sentence about her experience. I’m glad that she learned something from her past and is striving to reach out to other victims. The author also attached several pictures of her, both when she was sick, and after her recovery. These validated her story and made them believable. I didn’t find any grammatical errors throughout my reading. This means that this book was exceptionally edited.
Since there isn’t anything I disliked, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars and recommend it to everyone. Whether battling with trauma, or just someone who wants to learn about how to help trauma victims. This is definitely a book for everyone. Readers should, however, know that some pictures in this book are of an accident victim. Very sensitive readers may find them uncomfortable.
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Silent No More
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