TOUGHER THAN ME

by Sue Collins-Vahlberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 26, 2019

A wife shares the tales that “the Viking,” her husband’s nickname due to his tall stature, recounted about his upbringing in the West.

The Viking grew up sharing a one-bedroom cabin on a chicken ranch in Idaho with his family of five, the closest neighbor living a half mile away. His days were a routine of chores, school, homework, and bed. But on the weekends, there was ample time for him to get into mischief with his siblings and cousins. And get into trouble he did. He was bitten by a black widow, set on fire by a Molotov cocktail thrown by an assailant, and accidentally hung by the neck while playing on ropes at his grandmother’s house. Throughout this retelling of stories from his life, debut author Collins-Vahlberg compares the dire situations that her husband found himself in to the comparably sheltered life she enjoyed in California. While the Viking sustained third-degree burns while clearing frost in a cherry orchard during high school, she was not allowed to do farm work and did not have a job until she turned 19 years old. Many of the Viking’s near-death experiences seem unbelievable. Twice he was shot at: once while hunting and another time by a Vietnam veteran who was perhaps suffering from PTSD (the Viking was saved by his Indiana Jones hat). But then he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in his 50s, and it returned twice. He “had already published three books when he thought cancer would take his life.” Later, he sustained a traumatic brain injury after a fall down a flight of stairs. This gave him ample time to write during the years of recovery. The last chapter of the touching work includes these writings. Many of his words of wisdom read like moral platitudes, which may bring comfort to readers who are healing from an injury or having trouble appreciating life. This book is very short, and it is entertaining to read about the Viking’s many brushes with danger. The various vignettes deliver an assortment of rich and harrowing details (while working at a corn cannery, “he had his arm crushed in a two-ton hydraulic press….It took many months to heal”). But the Viking’s family, friends, and colleagues will be the readers who will get the most from this volume.

A concise account of a man’s perilous adventures with a limited appeal.

Pub Date: Jan. 26, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-79425-713-9

Page Count: 70

Publisher: Time Tunnel Media

Review Posted Online: June 13, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION