Uncontrollable

SUDEP. Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy. That’s what Casey Scott is facing. She’s 36, happily married with two young children, at the height of her career as a trial lawyer, about to make partner as she tries a case that will make her nationally famous. Stay on this path and she will have accomplished everything you dreamed of. Stay on this path and she might die. Casey chooses a very new procedure that may help her uncontrolled seizures. She has to be away from her family for weeks and that puts great stress on her family. Her husband Jason is dealing with work pressures that he can’t share with Casey for fear that it will add to the stresses that seem to bring on seizures. When Casey return home, she immediately begins to prepare for the trial. Ambitious and driven, both Casey and Jason must learn how to communicate, prioritize work and personal responsibilities and find time for each other and their children.

Uncontrollable is hard to put down and hard to forget. There are broad themes: the fragility of life, living with illness, the difficulty of being a sole caregiver, etc. However, the real focus of this disturbing story is Casey herself. We watch her fall apart and recover emotionally and physically over and over again. We see her attempt a laser focus on her work and her family. We see her finally realize that she can’t do it all and we breathe a sigh of relief. Thank you, Sara Staggs, for this beautifully written, complicated novel.

Thank you to NetGalley, Black Rose Writing and Sara Staggs for this ARC.

I didn't know much about epilepsy, even less about possible therapies. This novel is clearly written by somebody with personal experience. Chronical illness puts a strain to your marriage, your relationships and your work, that's what this novel describes in a very believable way - told by both sides, the wife with epilepsy and her husband.

What is it like to have your life dictated by a medical condition? In the novel, Uncontrollable, by Sara Staggs, we are immersed into the life of Casey, a wife, mother, and lawyer. Casey suffers from epilepsy and is told at her most recent medical appointment that she slow down and decrease her stress or she may likely lose her life due to a seizure. Casey struggles with this decision. She is a motivated lawyer, who gains something daily by the clients that she serves. Her husband, while supportive, wants nothing more than for Casey to give up on her career to ensure that she survives. What will Casey end up choosing? This book was difficult to put down as I was so engaged in the story. I had never read anything before by Mrs. Staggs, but I will certainly book looking for more books by her. The words and dialogue she used throughout the book really made you connect with the characters and feel the pain that they were feeling. The story was told by both Casey, and her husband, Jonah which really allowed you to get to know each character. I highly recommend this book. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

5/5 stars, an instant recommendation

Uncontrollable is a phenomenal and hardhitting debut, that strikes at the core of what it means to live with a chronic illness. For readers with epilepsy, Casey's story really has the potential to be that truly important book they see themselves and their experienced mirrorred in: those stories are what made me start to review own-voice literature in the first place.
Even if you don't share a diagnosis with the protagonist. Casey's tale is one that will resonate with people living with disabilities or illnesses. Sara Staggs brilliantly and eloquently describes that experience of being "in the growing stage of life"; having kids, building a career etc, and your body just not keeping up with your ambitions.

Luckily, Uncontrollable isn't a downer of a book. It's a story of resilence, connection, (self-)compassion, love and more, somehow all beautifully balanced into a complicated narrative.
I highly recommend this book, but be prepared for an emotional hard-hitter.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.