Anthony Wright is a medical curiosity.
After struggling to be diagnosed correctly with rare, hereditary and incurable Neurofibromatosis type 2, (N.F.2) - benign brain tumours affecting the nerves for balance and hearing leading to the inner ear - Wright ventured on an odyssey in pursuit of a return to health that almost killed him and could have destroyed his marriage.
Towards the end of his memoir, To Argue with Oblivion, he writes:
“A series of events had changed the nature of my world from an incurable condition, a disfigured face, limited support with permanent mental and psychological issues. I now had a recovery pathway; all I needed to do was put all the pieces together and implement them”.
I suggest that he has achieved this, not only via the many misadventures, strokes of luck and flashes of intuitive genius that he records but because, as a senior medic observed, he is one of nature’s mavericks.
When his strange and terrible illness began, UK-based Wright was a travelling sales manager for a Taiwanese home furnishings company. Since his extraordinary recovery he has metamorphosed into a self-styled ‘international author, speaker and trainer’.
I cannot argue with his authorial self-description but must advise him that praise ’from a former Booker prize judge’ notwithstanding, his work requires stern professional editing to iron out many repetitions, inconsistencies and much meandering if it is to achieve the warm, wide reception it deserves. It also needs a fresh, engaging title and a marketable cover design as neither presently do him justice.
To Argue with Oblivion - A True Story of Catastrophe and Recovery is presently available for free download for review from Bookfunnel or NetGalley and from Amazon via Kindle Unlimited.
© Natalie Wood (25 October 2020)
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