As posted to Goodreads:

On December 10, 2005, a passenger plane crashed in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Over a hundred people died. The author, Ms Okwuchi, was one of 2 survivors. She was 16 years old. Beautiful, mostly carefree, with only ordinary worries like her grades and life post high school. Then, she fell out of the sky. Against all odds, she survived.

This isn't a misery memoir. It is a powerful story about a young woman reclaiming her life. She details her experiences emerging from a coma after the crash to present day. It's full of love, loss, endurance, wavering faith and grace. Ms Okwuchi tells this story in a matter of fact way, without vanity or sensationalism and with surprising humour.

In the hazy days of healing, she clings to her mother's voice. She examines the strips of skin hanging off her arm in one passage with fascination: "Why is my skin doing that? Skin shouldn't do that". In another she dreams of a barbecue because with fresh burns, she smells like barbecue. Ms Okwuchi's conversational tone makes reading this book feel like speaking to a friend. I was moved to laughter, moved to tears. I highlighted several passages of sentences that were perfectly formed.

For example, this, on staying alive: "The machines kept my body bound to this world, but me, I was the one in charge of keeping my essence, my soul, bound to my body".

During her long hospital stays, there is some repetition and stasis but this effect is to be expected, being put in Ms Okwuchi's shoes even as she grew restless with being cooped up.

An ordinary and predictable life ended for Ms Okwuchi on December 10, 2005. She is "redefined - body, mind and soul". She insists that "there is nothing special" about her, making an important distinction between the person she is and the things that have happened to her. And yet, it takes enormous grit to fashion the life Ms Okwuchi is building for herself, bolstered by the encouragement of her loved ones and her faith. She utterly fails to convince that she is not inspiring.

What an inspiring story, what an incredible life. I am looking forward to reading more from this author. In the meantime, this book about the things that really matter, about how "everyone has scars...some just aren't as visible", will stay with me for a long time.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4
Thanks to Publisher’s Weekly for the chance to read Kechi Okwuchi’s inspirational memoir. As one of two survivors, Kechi describes her harrowing recovery and the importance of her mom along with her faith as she fought to survive and truly comes of age

I knew reading through this was going to be difficult. But Kechi's ability to sit, recall and write her story is a testimony and a clear statement to the fact that she is, indeed, more than her scars. While the prologue of this story is a plane crash, it quickly pales in importance, dulling in the light of hope, faith, grace and a fierce and unrelenting outflow of love. This story is more than a tale of trauma and woes. It is interesting to be able to find laughter in the pages, to find smiles in the story and to see life blooming and continuing in the face of what, for many, would have represented a life crippling event. In More Than My Scars, a tragedy can be a part of life’s experiences, rather than life itself.