'Body Breakdowns' is a collection of true tales about brushes with mortality and the medical establishment. Some are serious, some are funny; all are about illnesses, both minor and major. The pieces are all related to aging and are told in strong, engaging, and authentic voices. They are about people suddenly discovering they're vulnerable and the different ways they come to terms with that, as well as how they deal with the health professionals whose job it is to provide care for ourbodies. They are also about how people who have physically suffered learn to find words for and, thus, shape the new world they find themselves in. These stories remind us that everything can change in a moment. And that we're all in these aging bodies together. Janis Harper, the Vancouver-based teacher and actor who edited this beautiful little book of personal, intimate stories, some nearly gemlike in their clarity, believes she might have felt less afraid, less isolated, if others who'd hadexperiences similar to hers had shared some of her fears." - The Gazette