Alive Day: A Story of Love and Loyalty

This is a novel with autobiographical material showing the author's relationship with his seeing-eye dog. It's a great focus on the difference a seeing-eye dog can make in a blind person's life and in other's lives that come into contact with the dog. Tom Sullivan shows great insight into our returning soldier's lives and the challenges they face becoming a part of our society again. He leaves his readers with the certainty of society's responsibility to our soldiers' new career training and medical treatment of PTSD and other disabilities. Thanks DJ.

This book is fiction, but it's easy to forget that. The characters in this book seem to shine. The story centers around Dr. McCarthy, a blind psychiatrist and his guide dog Nelson. Together, they attempt to reach out to a very discouraged and depressed vet of the Iraq War named Antwon. Antwon is very resistant and guarded at first. But as they are prone to do, Nelson helps break through his walls and touch his heart. It is obvious that the bond between Dr. McCarthy and Nelson is very strong. It is also obvious that Nelson is willing to lay down his life for his master. This is a great book for someone who is struggling with depression or feeling hopeless. It is a quick, easy read. And a totally enjoyable one at that. This book reminded me what I love about dogs. Once you win them over, you've made a friend for life. A dog knows nothing about being selfish or holding back. Dogs can sense when you are upset and they love you unconditionally. There's just something about walking through the door and seeing that happy face and wagging tail. You can tell all your secrets to your dog, and they will never tell. This book will make you laugh and cry. It will also make you think. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an enjoyable and uplifting read.

This book follows Tom Sullivan's book "Together," which is also a terrific, terrific book. You would benefit from reading it first and would enjoy it and learn from it, but this book easily stands alone if the other one is not convenient for you to get first. I think it would also work just fine to read to read "Alive Again" before reading "Together." Each is a wonderful read. More than a good read, though, both of these books give you a lot of information and understanding about disability. In "Alive Again," Brendon is blind and living an extremely productive life. He works with a Marine who has been terribly injured, to help him find a new direction in life. In both books, Brendon's guide dog Nelson is a star! It's wonderful reading about him, and from a writer who has had guide dogs of his own and knows them. "Alive Day" has a lot of drama, too. It's a great story. Very worthwhile. This is a book you don't want to miss!

Upon receiving this book and starting to read it I found that I was unable to put it down. It was a simple read and in many ways a simple plot but it is truly captivating as a young African-American marine tries to deal with the fact he is paralyzed from the waist down. His help comes in the form of a white psychologist who had become blind after an accident and his large black guide dog. As the relationship between the three unfolds, hope is born with love and loyalty. For the plots sake this does not take as long as I am sure it would in real life but you left with a tinge of hope for yourself as you close that last page and a belief that whatever life throws at you it can be used to your advantage. If you are looking for a story to make you cheer and believe in hope then have a read. If you are looking for a positive slant on how to deal with becoming disabled then read this book. If you are looking for a nice simple read that can be an enjoyable time then this is your book. I will look for more by this author in the future as I loved it.

An African American Marine, paralyzed from the waist down in Iraq, and struggling to come to terms with his injury, is treated by a blind, white psychiatrist at a veteran's hospital. The psychiatrist's lovable and heroic seeing eye dog is a major character who aids in the therapy. There is a lot here about love and about empathy transcending differences between people. This story does not contain nuance or politics. It is simple to read, and has an uplifting approach to dealing with a disability. I have lately been reading a lot of literary fiction about people whose problems are mainly in their heads; some of these novels are downers. This book is the exact opposite; it is about people facing real challenges and will raise your spirits. One of the co-authors is blind and obviously has considerable, hard-earned wisdom to impart. I think reading this book could truly help people who are struggling with a variety of serious issues, including (but not limited to) physical handicaps. I don't think severe problems generally get resolved as quickly in real life as they do in this novel. I wonder about a disabled black veteran's purely positive reaction to the idea of recruiting inner city kids for the Marines. For all that, there is great value in this book. I enjoyed reading it.