Overview

“A powerful, gut-wrenching tale of pain, suffering, and recovery.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS “Unique and haunting…. A mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW One month before his college graduation, Paul Rousseau is accidentally shot in the head by his roommate and best friend. At some point in the course of Paul and Mark’s friendship, Mark acquired—legally and with required permits—five firearms. Those weapons lived with them in their college apartment. It was a non-issue for the two best friends. They were inseparable. They were twenty-two-year-old boys at the height of their college experience, unaware that everything was about to change forever. The bullet ripped through two walls before it struck Paul’s skull. Mark had accidentally pulled the trigger while in the other room and—frightened for his own future—delayed getting treatment for Paul, who miraculously remained conscious the entire time. In vivid detail, and balanced with refreshing moments of humor, Friendly Fire brings us into the world of both the shooting itself and its surgical counterpoint—the dark spaces of survival in the face of a traumatic brain injury and into the paranoid, isolating, dehumanizing maw of personal injury cases. Friendly Fire is the story of a friendship—both its formation and its destruction. Through phenomenal writing and gripping detail, Paul reveals a compelling and inspirational story that speaks to much of contemporary American life.

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9781400247950

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Reviews

''The words are simple,' writes Rousseau, 'I got shot in the head by my best friend at school.' But this story is anything but simple: a shattered life, broken friendship, long recovery and loss of self. Rousseau writes this vivid, startling memoir the only way he can: fractured. And in that structure there is so much beauty, so much bravery, and so much stubborn elegance--this is a gorgeous book that cuts to the bones of American life and a terrible injury.' * AMBER SPARKS, author of And I Do Not Forgive You * 'One of the most riveting memoirs I've read in years, Friendly Fire unfolds with urgency and so much heart, and the magic lies in how effortlessly Paul Rousseau tells this wrenching story. This is a big-time debut from a big-time talent.' * JAMES TATE HILL, author of Blind Man’s Bluff * 'This book is powerful, surprising, moving--and impossible to put down.' * AUSTIN ROSS, author of Gloria Patri * 'Unique and haunting.... A mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.' * Publishers Weekly *

'Paul Rousseau's debut memoir, Friendly Fire, feels like a shot across the memoir bow. Told in fractures, there's no meandering exposition, just an unflinching, rapid-fire account of a polarizing event--and what happens next. This is memoir writing at its best. Thoughtful. Vulnerable. Palpable. Empathetic. Hopeful.' * <strong>—SMOKELONG QUARTERLY</strong> * 'Rousseau recounts how he survived a gunshot wound to the head in this unique and haunting account... With punchy, insightful prose, Rousseau details the fallout, including the rift the incident caused between him and Mark, the financial challenges he faced as he tried to pay his medical bills, and the toll it all took on his psyche. Certain details are infuriating, including Mark's insurance company employing hack doctors to squash Rousseau's personal injury claim; others are unsettling, including Rousseau's assertion that the ordeal turned him into 'a rabid brute whose sole intention is to destroy.' The result is a mesmerizing and unforgettable meditation on a stranger-than-fiction tragedy.' * <strong>—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY STARRED REVIEW</strong> * 'Told in sharp, clean prose, with a hard-earned sense of humor, his memoir proceeds in brisk chapters that alternate between those about the accident and aftermath and those about his life, his girlfriend Anna, and his devotion to the Timberwolves basketball team... A powerful, gut-wrenching tale of pain, suffering, and recovery.' * <strong>—KIRKUS REVIEWS</strong> * ''The words are simple,' writes Rousseau, 'I got shot in the head by my best friend at school.' But this story is anything but simple: a shattered life, broken friendship, long recovery and loss of self. Rousseau writes this vivid, startling memoir the only way he can: fractured. And in that structure there is so much beauty, so much bravery, and so much stubborn elegance--this is a gorgeous book that cuts to the bones of American life and a terrible injury.' * AMBER SPARKS, author of And I Do Not Forgive You * 'One of the most riveting memoirs I've read in years, Friendly Fire unfolds with urgency and so much heart, and the magic lies in how effortlessly Paul Rousseau tells this wrenching story. This is a big-time debut from a big-time talent.' * JAMES TATE HILL, author of Blind Man’s Bluff * 'This book is powerful, surprising, moving--and impossible to put down.' * AUSTIN ROSS, author of Gloria Patri *

Author Information

Paul Rousseau is a disabled writer with work in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity, Catapult, and elsewhere. You can find more of his work online at Paul-Rousseau.com.

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