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December Book of the Month Review: Laughing At My Nightmare

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Laughing at My Nightmare

Growing up, I learned to hate biographies, not necessarily because they were boring, but mostly because they were assignments. On top of that obvious barrier, I often found them difficult to relate to. Most of the ones I encountered were about people who lived during the 19th and 20th centuries. So, not only were the stories seemingly ancient to my teenage mind, but they also were written about older adults who had essentially finished their story.

Having lived a successful/unusual life is the number one prerequisite to having a biography written about you. This makes complete sense as very few people would read a book about someone who’s life pretty much looks the exact same every single day. That said, I am glad we as a society are beginning to break away from the trend that biographical accounts are only worthwhile investments when someone is close to death.

The increase in the number of autobiographies has definitely helped with this over the years. Of course, autobiographies existed in the past, but now, with the rise of celebrity culture, they have overtaken many people’s favorite bookshelves.

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If I am being completely transparent, this is my first ever time completing someone’s autobiography (not including class assignments and books provided to me by educators). I own a handful of them back at home, but generally, the material still isn’t my favorite thing to spend time on. High energy fiction will always be my one true love. That said, I find them to be incredibly important. Just because I skip over some of the less exciting chapters doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the genre, it just means I am picky with my time.

Laughing At My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw was actually the third autobiography that I read about someone living their life with a disability (and, because the other two were given to me by a professor, they are not included in the “incomplete” list above!). It was definitely the most entertaining of the three, but it was probably the least educational.

From my understanding, Shane was only 21 years old at the time of writing this book. This meant two things:

1. It was relatable for someone like me – a recent college graduate

All of the stories were related to childhood, teenage angst, and college hoopla. Meaning, that at the ripe age of 24 myself, I could relate to this book 100%. I’ve been out of school for a little over a year, but much of my identity is still wrapped up in my youth. I married the guy I was dating in college, I’m still very close with many of my childhood friends, and I have yet to fully settle into a new location and begin working a “regular job.”

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Though my personal stories look a lot different from Shane’s, I felt represented in a book for the first time ever in my life, which was a pretty amazing feeling. The other two disability-related autobiographies were written by middle-aged individuals. There is nothing wrong with this by any means, but in reading someone’s story who is younger, I felt more connected to messages being shared.

2. It was written like a 21-year-old was writing their first novel

The book was a bit all over the place, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but did get a bit overwhelming from time to time. Throughout the book, Shane adds in some playful anecdotes and stories in special text boxes. While these heighten my appreciation of his personality, they were a bit distracting. It actually reminded me of how a 21-year-old guy would tell a story. Here’s the main plot, but let me give you a little extra context just for funsies too.

The ending in particular comes to mind when reflecting on this. Without giving anything away, I will just say it sort of felt as if they were trying to prove that Shane was a comedy genius, which the rest of the book had already accomplished. That said, while the ending was a bit much, the rest of it added an extra layer of authenticity to the reading material as a whole. Since Shane rose to fame as a blogger, I think it was vital that they keep his little tangents in because they were probably very representative of how he would write online.

So, What Do I Need To Know Before Reading Laughing At My Nightmare?

1. This isn’t a deep book, and that’s okay!

The primary goal of this book isn’t to educate. The primary goal of this book is to entertain. Through entertainment, the goal is to normalize authentic disabled stories. Therefore, even though Laughing At My Nightmare isn’t diving into the correlations and differences between the social and medical models of disability, it is still a very important read.

I’ve talked about it so much on this blog, but disability is not well represented in the media. The autobiography format of this book provided agency to Shane to tell his authentic story. So often on tv and in the news, we are provided only one of three lenses into what it’s like to be disabled. Most of them aren’t representative of the wider disabled population. Therefore, by reading a book like this, that is delivered directly from the source, you are consuming the real thing. It truly doesn’t get more authentic than that!

2. It’s okay to laugh!

This book is a comedy. You’re meant to chuckle happily to yourself as you make your way through it. Remember, it’s a lot different to laugh with someone than at someone. Many people with disabilities have learned to find the humor in their conditions and life experiences because even though it can be frustrating to live with extra challenges, many circumstances we find ourselves in are hilarious. So laugh, holler, and enjoy this fully, because you’re supposed to!