Hazard: A Sister's Flight from Family and a Broken Boy

by Margaret Combs

Overview

Hazard is a poignant, unflinching memoir of the emotional intricacies of growing up with a severely disabled sibling. Margaret Combs shows how her Southern Baptist family coped with lived reality of autism in an era of ignorance and shame, the 1950s through the 1970s, and shares her own tragedy and anguish of being torn between helping her brother and yearning for her own life. Like many siblings of disabled children, young Margaret drives herself to excel in order to make up for her family’s sorrow and ultimately flees her family for what she hopes is a “normal” life.

Hazard is also a story of indelible bonds between siblings: the one between Combs and her sister, and the deep and rueful one she has with her disabled brother; how he and she were buddies; and how fervently she wanted to make him whole. Initially fueled by a wish that her brother had never been born, the author eventually arrives in a deeper place of gratitude for this same brother, whom she loves and who loves her in return.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510715318
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	03/21/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Margaret Combs is an award-winning journalist who began her writing life as a National Public Radio reporter and education correspondent for the Boston Globe. She is a recipient of both the Associated Press Award for Arts Reporting and the United Press International Award for Best Documentary. Excerpts from her book have appeared in literary magazines, including the North American Review (NAR) and Lost Magazine. She was a finalist for the NAR’s 2015 TORCH Memorial Prize. She lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Part I Family

Chapter 1 All Fall Down 3

Chapter 2 Great Expectations 8

Chapter 3 Back Seat 13

Chapter 4 Home to Hazard 22

Chapter 5 Jesus Is Calling 30

Chapter 6 Monkey Bird 44

Chapter 7 Among the Dead 51

Chapter 8 Put 'em Up, Boys 58

Chapter 9 Aileron 66

Chapter 10 Split Levels 75

Chapter 11 Mercy 83

Chapter 12 Laundromat 96

Chapter 13 All God's Children 101

Chapter 14 Pieces 112

Chapter 15 Guns in the Family 119

Part II Flight

Chapter 16 Wings 129

Chapter 17 Cracker Jacks 135

Chapter 18 Tears 144

Chapter 19 Trapeze 150

Chapter 20 Chant from Another World 156

Chapter 21 Dive 162

Chapter 22 Falling 175

Part III Fortuity

Chapter 23 Coppertone 185

Chapter 24 Sebastian 197

Chapter 25 Apparition 202

Chapter 26 Implosion 219

Chapter 27 Dave's Diner 225

Chapter 28 Losing It 234

Chapter 29 Lift Off 241

Chapter 30 Batman 252

Chapter 31 Valentine 258

Chapter 32 Little Wing 265

Epilogue 269

Acknowledgments 275

Editorial Reviews

“An insightful look at the challenges faced by families with special-needs children.” —Booklist

“In her hauntingly authentic memoir, Margaret Combs tells the story of a childhood turned sideways by the discovery of her young brother’s autism. Hazard is a poignant family portrait that is still shot through with light and a profound narrative poise. . . . This family memoir will hold you spellbound.” —Brenda Peterson, author of I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth

“In this achingly honest, courageous memoir, Margaret Combs will break your heart and then mend it again as she unfolds her story of growing up with an autistic brother. There are some harsh realities here, but like Mary Karr in The Liars’ Club and Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle, Combs infuses hope and humor into even the most harrowing scenes. I couldn't put it down.” —Holly Robinson, author of Beach Plum Island, Folly Cove, and The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter: A Memoir

“Margaret Combs never gave up on Roddy, her brother born with autism, and Roddy never gave up on her. Unflinching and bold, Hazard is the story of a loving family finally making it despite the odds stacked against them.” —Daniel Friedman, author of The King of Chicago: Memories of My Father

“Combs has a way of pulling you in and taking you on the journey with her so you see with her eyes, feel what she did. It’s a highly emotional and expressive look at family dynamics and the ability to survive overwhelming challenges. . . . As a parent I found it very interesting to read an adult’s point of view about what it was like to be the sibling of a special needs child because it gave me some insight in how to be there for my son more since his sisters [who have autism] get more of our attention and time than he does simply due to the circumstances. He is not loved less than them but as a parent you don’t necessarily realize how things appear from their point of view. I feel like this book will make me a better mother to him and maybe be able to help him in his role in their lives. I was very grateful for the opportunity to read this and gain some profound insight.” —Tara Sheehan, Artistic Bend

“A great memoir, like a great novel, has the power to crack our hearts open, teach us about loss and resilience and what it means to be human. Hazard is such a book.” —Lindsay Pyfer, The Huffington Post

"The book is very beautifully written and from the bottom of the heart. It gives strength and inspiration to anyone ever coping with an autistic family member or just interested in knowing more about life-challenging experiences." —Wild Writing Life

“[I would] recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding what it was like to grow up in this time period with a handicapped sibling.” —Lisa Kiser, Lock Haven University

“An amazing story that is superbly written . . . with such an amazing life that I couldn’t put the story down.” –Lisa Urbassik, NetGalley reviewer

“This is a very honest and poignant memoir, by a woman whose younger brother's autism deeply affected her parents, and consequently her own upbringing.” –Emi Bevacqua, Goodreads reviewer

“[The author] does an exemplary job remembering the thoughts and feelings of a child, a child growing up in a world that is much kinder to some than to other.” –SundayAtDusk, Goodreads reviewer

“An insightful look at the challenges faced by families with special-needs children.” —Booklist

“In her hauntingly authentic memoir, Margaret Combs tells the story of a childhood turned sideways by the discovery of her young brother’s autism. Hazard is a poignant family portrait that is still shot through with light and a profound narrative poise. . . . This family memoir will hold you spellbound.” —Brenda Peterson, author of I Want to Be Left Behind: Finding Rapture Here on Earth

“In this achingly honest, courageous memoir, Margaret Combs will break your heart and then mend it again as she unfolds her story of growing up with an autistic brother. There are some harsh realities here, but like Mary Karr in The Liars’ Club and Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle, Combs infuses hope and humor into even the most harrowing scenes. I couldn't put it down.” —Holly Robinson, author of Beach Plum Island, Folly Cove, and The Gerbil Farmer’s Daughter: A Memoir

“Margaret Combs never gave up on Roddy, her brother born with autism, and Roddy never gave up on her. Unflinching and bold, Hazard is the story of a loving family finally making it despite the odds stacked against them.” —Daniel Friedman, author of The King of Chicago: Memories of My Father

“Combs has a way of pulling you in and taking you on the journey with her so you see with her eyes, feel what she did. It’s a highly emotional and expressive look at family dynamics and the ability to survive overwhelming challenges. . . . As a parent I found it very interesting to read an adult’s point of view about what it was like to be the sibling of a special needs child because it gave me some insight in how to be there for my son more since his sisters [who have autism] get more of our attention and time than he does simply due to the circumstances. He is not loved less than them but as a parent you don’t necessarily realize how things appear from their point of view. I feel like this book will make me a better mother to him and maybe be able to help him in his role in their lives. I was very grateful for the opportunity to read this and gain some profound insight.” —Tara Sheehan, Artistic Bend

“A great memoir, like a great novel, has the power to crack our hearts open, teach us about loss and resilience and what it means to be human. Hazard is such a book.” —Lindsay Pyfer, The Huffington Post

"The book is very beautifully written and from the bottom of the heart. It gives strength and inspiration to anyone ever coping with an autistic family member or just interested in knowing more about life-challenging experiences." —Wild Writing Life

“[I would] recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding what it was like to grow up in this time period with a handicapped sibling.” —Lisa Kiser, Lock Haven University

“An amazing story that is superbly written . . . with such an amazing life that I couldn’t put the story down.” –Lisa Urbassik, NetGalley reviewer

“This is a very honest and poignant memoir, by a woman whose younger brother's autism deeply affected her parents, and consequently her own upbringing.” –Emi Bevacqua, Goodreads reviewer

“[The author] does an exemplary job remembering the thoughts and feelings of a child, a child growing up in a world that is much kinder to some than to other.” –SundayAtDusk, Goodreads reviewer

From the Publisher

2016-12-26
A sister struggles with her brother's autism while growing up and seeking personal fulfillment.Award-winning journalist Combs details her tomboyish childhood in the late 1950s, first in Kansas, when her brother was born, and then in Denver, when things began to shift and sour. The author was 5, her brother just an infant, when their mother began fretting over the way Roddy "rocked in his crib, banging his head against the bars, not seeming to mind the pain, not crying as she hurried to him." A misdiagnosis of cerebral palsy was corrected to Asperger's years later. Meanwhile, Combs witnessed the discord of her parents' relationship after a rushed move to Hazard, Kentucky. As she grew up, her sheer exasperation at her brother's quizzical behavior quickly turned to fierce protectiveness when the schoolyard bullies tormented him. Eventually, the author's vibrant life began buckling beneath the weight of Roddy's rages and the family's growing impatience with an impairment they could not fully understood, manage, or treat at the time. "My brother's response to any request was like a tangled almanac," she writes, "a set of warnings that might or might not advance to a full-blown tornado." All of this took a toll on Combs, who realized that she had spent a good portion of her youth sheltering her brother yet not fully cultivating her own dreams and desires since she "always tried to be the son that Roddy couldn't be." Through the years, the author would "escape the undertow of my brother's tantrums" to pursue collegiate gymnastics and, later, marriage and children. Once reunited a decade later, the intricate, complex familial bond with Roddy showed signs of deterioration but remained unbroken, despite distance and maturity. Though swift-moving, the narrative is richly textured, layered with colorfully outlined imagery and descriptive prose, perfectly suiting this bittersweet chronicle of love, pain, and fierce devotion. A touching, highly poignant portrait of how family dynamics can survive despite disability and seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Kirkus Reviews