Bite Club

The Bite Club is a truly inspiring read. Dave Pearson personally knew the need for getting together a club for others who survived predatory bites. The people in this book and their stories involving their bites and their mental and emotional survival afterwards are just amazing.

Douglas Wight not only reports the shock, gore and horror of an animal attack, he lets the reader get to know the victims as real people.

I am a sucker for a good animal attack story, and this title did not disappoint. Readers will find stories of ill-fated encounters with a variety of sharks (including the bizarre cookie cutter shark), wolves, lions, and bears. The new angle this book takes is to consider the victims' ongoing trauma and how sharing their stories with other survivors, such a through the social media group "Bite Club" can be healing. I have to be honest, that I did not find that part of the stories very interesting. I was in it for the voyeuristic thrill of hearing about the shocking ways that nature can come for us. There were also pictures detailing the various bites and scratches. A fascinating read to be sure!

This was a very interesting book. It has 14 cases of people that were bitten by wild animals, mostly sharks, and how they overcame the subsequent hurdles in their lives. Especially, the part that Bite Club, a support group for people that have been through this situation, created by Dave Pearson, has played in their role to recovery.

It was a truly inspirational book, and the stories do not focus on the gory details (even though there are some, obviously), but they focus on the resilience, endurance and ability to recover, physically and mentally, of all those involved.

I have to say that it was not surprising, but it was very sad, that the most recent cases all claim that the biggest difficulty to overcome was the hate they found on social media. What makes a person that is scrolling through social media, take time to actually send death threats to someone they never met, and only know the story portrayed in the media is beyond me. I will never understand why people spew hate in social media, but it bothers me even more when that hatred is directed at someone that is already suffering from major trauma.

Very interesting book, I recommend it to all that want to know more about it, and all that want to see the positive impact a group of people can have on each others lives.

This is a fascinating collection of stories from those who have survived an apex predator attack. It explores the physical and psychological ramifications of this rather unique situation. These folks' courage and perseverance to move on from their experiences and support one another through the Facebook group, Bite Club, is admirable.

Most of this book includes stories of shark attacks, but there is a lion, wolves and a bear story as well. What stuck out the most to me in these stories (most have taken place within the last 2 decades) is the amount of social media trolling these people have had to deal with simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It hurt my heart to learn of the nastiness of those hiding behind their computers spewing their venom at people who are just trying to put their lives back together.

I strongly recommend (if the layout of the book remains the same as this was an ARC) if you are squeamish you should not read past the acknowledgments as there are extremely graphic pictures of the injuries suffered. I don't think these were included to be voyeuristic but simply to highlight what kind of damage these creatures and inflict and just how much some had to endure to return to some semblance of normal.

I am glad the world has someone like Dave, who created Bite Club as a solace for those in need of support from those in similar situations.