Richard BricknerS newest book beginsIn<br > Ma)of 1953I broke nay neck in an auto<br > mobile accident and lay for a whilepre<br > cariousl)on the furthest rim of existence<br > Yet My Second Twenty Years is only in part<br > about the aftermath of that accidentwhich<br > first totally paralyzed Brickner and then<br > gradually left him with the challenge of<br > earning his living and building an effective<br > social and personal lire from a wheelchair<br > The lasting literary achievement of this book<br > (which has already been compared to Frank<br > ConroyS Stop Time)lies in the astonishing<br > unsparing honesty and seemingly effortless<br > precision with which Brickner tells the story<br > of a handsomegiftedimmature young man<br > the beloved yet anxious son of two psydlia<br > tristsof his rendezvous withthe furthest<br > rim of existenceand-most eentraUyof<br > his struggle to grow into manhoodnot once<br > but twice<br > It is a story whichlike all fine writingillu-<br > minates and memorably defnes its subject<br > in this instancethe painful course of true<br > parental and filial 10vethe turbulence of<br > sexual developmentand the saving graces<br > of couragefriendshiploveand work<br >