Roberta Writes – Book review: Stand Up or Sit Out: Memories and Musings of a Blind Wrestler, Runner and All-around Regular Guy by Anthony R Candela #memoir #bookreview

Uncategorized 3 Minutes
Picture caption: Book cover of Stand UP or Sit Out: Memories and Musings of a Blind Wrestler, Runner and All-around Regular Guy by Anthony R Candela, featuring a pair of glasses

What Amazon says

In this memoir, Anthony Candela, a self-described “all-around regular guy,” traverses a lifetime of challenges. Some of these are accidents of birth, like his poor eyesight and slow trek to blindness, and some are of his own making, like choosing to compete as a scholar-athlete. Infused with lots of New Yorkana, a touch of California, and a few related historical references, this memoir conveys that in any environment, life does not always follow a prescribed course.

Moreover, as humans, all of us are imperfect. This includes people with disabilities who are often thought of as transcendent beings, but who should also be regarded as “all-around regular guys.” Just like the rest of the human race, they often strive imperfectly to get through life.
In his descriptions, the author hopes that readers will understand a little more about the nuts and bolts of running and wrestling, not to mention skiing and scuba diving. The ups and downs of coping with life and progressive loss of eyesight and, by extraction, disability in general will be clearer. Readers will come away with a fuller appreciation of the ways people deal with challenges. In the end, we all have a choice whether to stand up or sit out.


The story related in these pages will occasionally give you cause to chuckle or even shed tears of sadness or joy. Above all else, it will enlighten you about why things happen the way they do. Ultimately, this memoir increases our understanding of what it means to be truly human. Perhaps after reading it, we will be kinder and gentler to each other. Most important, perhaps we will take it a little easier on ourselves.

My review

I had read some of Anthony (Tony) Candela’s blog posts prior to purchasing this book so I was already familiar with his style of writing. Tony’s frank approach to writing about his slowly deteriorating eyesight and his ultimate blindness is interesting and revealing, as a result, I was keen to read his memoir.

Tony’s story starts with the details of the tunnel vision and reduced vision he was born with, and an overview of the overarching diagnosis for his condition which was complete blindness. He talks about the reactions of his parents to his genetic condition which also presented in his youngest brother. When I read this section, I thought about how difficult it must have been for his parents to adjust to the knowledge that not one, but two of their three children had inherited an eye disorder. Tony’s parents rose to the challenge and did their best to give Tony a good education and the same opportunities as his sighted peers. Tony became involved in wrestling at school and, together with his coach, found ways of overcoming his disability. This being said, Tony suffered some difficulties in socialising with his peer group and was a lonely child and teenager.

The book moves on to detail Tony’s academic achievements at college and his difficulties and successes in the work environment. He was fortunate enough to meet a few lovely women who helped him through different phases of his life and helped facilitate some of his sporting achievements. Tony has been quite frank about his thoughts and feelings as he traversed life and faced challenges. He pushed himself very hard in order to achieve and maintain a high level of academic and physical achievement and to show the world that despite his poor vision, he was a regular guy.

I found this memoir to be very insightful into the practical difficulties faced by people with tunnel vision, which I didn’t know much about, and limited vision leading ultimately to blindness. The book was also quite revealing about the assistance and support that was available to sight disabled people during Tony’s younger days (in the 1950s) and how this has changed over the course of his life. I also gained a lot of knowledge about life in New York City.

Blindness aside, Tony led an interesting life with numerous career achievements and dabbling’s into a number of sports including skiing, long-distance running, and triathlons. The overlay of his visual disability makes his life story all the more interesting.

An engaging memoir that I recommend.

Purchase Stand Up or Sit Out: Memories and Musings of a Blind Wrestler, Runner and All-around Regular Guy by Anthony R Candela: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B094YW3FDW

Unknown's avatar

Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

Published

42 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – Book review: Stand Up or Sit Out: Memories and Musings of a Blind Wrestler, Runner and All-around Regular Guy by Anthony R Candela #memoir #bookreview”

  10. Great review, Robbie. Thank you for introducing me to Tony. Stand Up or Sit Out sounds like a great read.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi Gwen, I’ve read a few books about guide dogs and life for people with visual disabilities and found them to be most interesting. I try now to include picture captions in my posts and make them more accessible to visually impaired readers.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. HI LIz, I found this book very insightful about life for visually disabled people. Tony’s feelings and emotions around the gradual loss of his sight are very interesting and understandable. A good memoir to read if you are interested in people.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  13. I know many people don’t like memoirs, but it’s one of my favorite genres. This is the type of book I find fascinating because it’s written from a point of view I know nothing about.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Pete, I am fascinated by people and their lives so memoirs are an obvious choice for me. I always know everything about everyone at work which is always a surprise to my fellow senior colleagues. The ask me to let them know how our staff are doing emotionally. Obviously, I never betray confidences.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  15. I just read an article about how much better services are for people with blindness or limited sight now than they used to be. I imagine in the 50s it was very difficult indeed. The writer and his parents deserve a lot of credit for not letting his sight keep him from living a full life. (K)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. Sometimes you hear that memoirs are for celebrities, but I have read many memoirs by “regular people” who had interesting stories to tell and I enjoy those books more than I enjoy celebrity memoirs. This sounds like a very interesting memoir. Thank you for the suggestion and the great review.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Hi Thomas, I am continuously interested in people, and I always have been. My mother calls me a ‘people collector’ because I befriend so many unusual people. My favourite blog posts are about people’s lives. As a result, I do enjoy memoirs like this one. I read memoirs of famous authors and artists but never celebrities (except for Lance Armstrong’s memoir before his downfall).

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  18. Tony sounds brave.

    Because of, In spite of and irregardless of his eyesight situation, he has accomplished much in his life.

    Many with 2 – 20/20 eyes accomplish less.

    Congratulations on what sounds like an intriguing book, Tony!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment