Perfect Strangers
A Story of Love, Strength, and Recovery After the 2013 Boston Marathon
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4.7 • 15 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Four lives brought together in a deadly moment prove that being in the wrong place at the worst time can lead to life's biggest adventures and most important relationships
As Roseann Sdoia waited to watch her friend cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013, she had no idea her life was about to change-that in a matter of minutes she would look up from the sidewalk, burned and deaf, staring at her detached foot, screaming for help amid the smoke and blood.
In the chaos of the minutes that followed, three people would enter Roseann's life and change it forever. The first was Shores Salter, a college student who, when the bomb went off, instinctively ran into the smoke while his friends ran away. He found Roseann lying on the sidewalk and, using a belt as a tourniquet, literally saved her life that day. Then, Boston police officer Shana Cottone arrived on the scene and began screaming desperately at passing ambulances, all full, before finally commandeering an empty paddy wagon. Just then a giant appeared, in the form of Boston firefighter Mike Materia, who carefully lifted her into the fetid paddy wagon. He climbed in and held her burned hand all the way to the hospital. Since that day, he hasn't left her side, and today they are planning their life together.
Perfect Strangers is about recovery, about choosing joy and human connection over anger and resentment, and most of all, it's about an unlikely but enduring friendship that grew out of the tragedy of Boston's worst day.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It takes a remarkable person to convince you they have gained more than they lost after having a leg blown off in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. But that's exactly what Sdoia does in her frank, personal account of that horrific day. Describing herself as stubborn and determined even as a kid, she conveys that strength in relating how she survived after realizing she would lose her right leg and might bleed to death. In a spare but emotional register, Sdoia describes how three people rescued her. College student Shores Salter ran into the chaos and held the tourniquet tight enough that she didn't bleed out. No-nonsense cop Shana Cottone commandeered a police van to get her to the hospital. Mike Materia, a big, stoic Boston firefighter and Iraq War veteran, got her off the street and into the van. The book movingly describes how the four of them, bonding over the rescue and Sdoia's difficult recovery, became as close as family. Sdoia is unsparing in describing her own weaknesses as well as her strength, but this candor only makes her story all the more inspiring.
Customer Reviews
Powerful story of resilience
This book brought me to tears a few times. It's hard to say I enjoyed the book because that feels wrong to say. I didn't enjoy hearing about the bombing, loss of limbs, and lives. I read it for the story of the fight to get her life back, of friendship, and love. All that was in there, and that I enjoyed.