LIMP FORWARD

Meyers offers a memoir of growing up in northern China, living with the effects of polio.

The author was 11 months old in 1977 when she received her polio diagnosis. She and her younger brother spent their earliest years with extended family members as her parents worked tirelessly to afford surgeries that promised, and failed, to provide a cure. The procedures took her out of school for extended periods; meanwhile, her best friend, Dongmei, suffered from breathing difficulties that her family couldn’t afford to treat. Dongmei’s death at age 11 had a profound effect on the author; she became determined to focus on academics, and to that end, she insisted to her parents that she not receive any more surgeries. Later, her family relocated to Dalian, a seaside town where she learned English and excelled at school, while her father started his own geological survey business. Despite her academic excellence, the author’s dreams of gaining entry to a computer science degree program were crushed by systemic discrimination against students with disabilities; she was forced to settle for studying chemistry at a local university. Despite the odds, she set a plan in motion to complete the four-year chemistry degree in three years, learn computer science, and get into graduate school; this led her to the United States, where she found success and built a family. Many chapters open with a story or quote from ancient Chinese tradition or Western literature and a brief explanation of how the wisdom therein inspires the life lessons that follow. In these passages, as in other parts of the book, Meyers’ voice is energetic, and her spirited determination to live the life she wants to lead colors even the darkest moments in the narrative, when pain or stigma strike. For example, in a section on her origins that pays homage to China and her family’s struggles, she writes, “I treasure my heritage tremendously, for it’s my fuel, my shield, and my strength—and the guiding star always points me in the right direction."

A vibrant story of a brilliant and industrious woman.