"It appeared that she had two personalities warring within her, one of hatred and vindictiveness and the other of true tenderness."
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Autobiography of an Ordinary Couple
Facing Extraordinary Circumstances by Dr. E. R. Buckler Trafford Publishing
book review by Omar Figueras
Told through the perspective of two characters, Dr. E. R. Buckler's Autobiography of an Ordinary Couple Facing Extraordinary Circumstances is his memoir which details his relationship with Wilma, his wife. Starting from their respective childhoods, moving through their formative years, including how the couple met and married, then ending with the downward spiral of the madness Wilma suffered in her later years. Despite her mental and physical deterioration, Everett Buckler never left her side. As mentioned by the author, the book takes dark and brutal turns, showing the deep layering of human emotion and the different shades of a marriage and how that marriage can be tested. What remains steadfast and true throughout the story is the integrity of Everett's never-faltering love for his wife, despite how she lost her way and cheated on him. Each chapter is titled with either Wilma or Everett's name. Verbs change tenses and the time line of the story is not exactly linear, all adding to the dynamic of the story, mirrored by the anxiety Wilma feels as she suffers from bouts of depression and mania throughout her life. The author also employs hypertext to emphasize sounds, underlining the words to stress the ferocity of noises, for example, "clunk!" when describing a pile driver. Buckler uses epistolary devices by inserting letters from his wife to numerous doctors and her diary entries, and all are placed within the text to illustrate how over time she was slowly sinking into dementia. Although its descriptions of woe are painful to read, on the whole Buckler's book is an entertaining one. At times the book's honesty is unbearable, but one need only consider the gargantuan amount of love fueling the drive of this book.