Husbands Should Not Break: A Memoir about the Pursuit of Happiness after Spinal Cord Injury

In October 2010, Shane Clifton had a serious accident that left him a quadriplegic. Husbands Should Not Break is a memoir that describes the challenges of adjusting to life with a disability. Shane is a theologian by trade, so the memoir explores the problem of pain--where is God when we suffer--weighing the sometimes-abstract categories of theology against the harsh realities of his experience. It is a brutally honest account, which does not shy away from the author's doubts and failures, and touches on rarely spoken-about topics, such as the impact of spinal cord injury upon sexuality. But while the narrative deals with sadness, it is a hopeful rather than depressing text, and often surprisingly funny, as it describes the comedic strangeness of struggling with a broken body. The memoir is an invitation into Shane's mind, providing readers with the opportunity to imagine what it might be like to experience the loss that comes with spinal cord injury and, thereafter, to think about life, loss, disability, and the possibility of happiness in the midst of the hardship and fragility of life.