That Day In September

Artie Van Why
Lulu (2006)
ISBN 9781411683150
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (4/07)

During the 84 pages of “That Day in September” author Artie Van Why successfully manages to take you with him back in time to when the World Trade Center was destroyed. He recounts his firsthand experiences as someone that was right there. His story brought tears to my eyes. He was lucky to survive this devastating day, but he has to relive the horrible memories that came with it.

Van Why was at the bottom of the buildings when the bodies were falling. He had to watch people make the choice of how they were going to die, by jumping off the building or burning to death. He had to relive the hopelessness that he felt when there was nothing that he could do to help. He did try to help a man who was injured on the ground. Even with that situation, he knew it was hopeless.

Some people try to blame what happened on the wrath of God, he realistically realizes that it is really about the evil that man is capable of. He also saw heroes being made that day. He saw goodness in the people that were trying to help others. He felt that God was there among the strangers trying to help each other.

Van Why realized, just as those people chose how to die, he has a choice as to how he will live. He left his job and started a new life. Writing has also been therapeutic for him. Reading his story was therapeutic for me. I grew up always seeing the World Trade Center in the New York City skyline. When I went back there last year to see Ground Zero, like the giant hole in the ground, it left a hole in my heart.

Reading Van Why’s story and knowing that he used the experience to change his life for the better brought some healing to me and left hope in my heart for the other survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones. I highly recommend this book for everyone to read. It is impossible not to be touched by it.

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