Stack of Spines

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I stumbled upon this book one day while browsing GoodReads, and was  immediately drawn to the cover.

It was a perfect quick weekend read, and let’s face it, I’m a sucker for memoirs detailing lives more interesting and fast-paced than my own.

Of course, I assumed like most people Burau describes when they hear she is a 911 dispatcher – “Oh, you must have interesting stories.”  I thought it would be neat to read a book about interesting stories, not realizing that the most “interesting” involved someone’s worst (and possibly last) day on earth.  ”Interesting” can also leave you jaded and color your view of humanity permanently.  So in that sense, it’s not a book with interesting stories at all.

But instead of depressing everyone like she could have, Burau unpacked calls and events to tell a larger story with an important theme — there is such a thing as free will, you can’t help everyone, and it’s ok to take a cry break if you need one.  I need to remember that last one more often.

I loved reading about Burau’s connection with her job, even if the job didn’t exactly connect with her right away.  As someone who gets frustrated if she’s not good at something the first time she tries, hers is a valuable lesson in persistence.  And the humorous irony of dropping out of nursing school for being afraid of blood was not lost on her, which makes her story all the more interesting and worthy of telling.  She’s also a former reporter, the prodding kind she grows to detest when sitting on the other side of the desk.  Not to mention, she is a recovering crack addict.  She’s an interesting story herself with a refreshing and frank book worth picking up.