India, Jan. 2 -- At 23, Tarini Mohan has it all. An Ivy League education, a Wall Street career, a long-term partner and a promising future. Thus, begins Lifequake, her memoir about her struggle with a traumatic brain injury following an unfortunate accident in the prime of her youth. Mohan's journey creates a surreal intersection, one of privilege and misfortune; her story chronicles equal parts pain, struggle and grief and equal parts resources, networks and social capital.

The beginning of the book reads a bit like a well-polished admissions SOP. But what follows is a messy, non-linear, and stubborn arc of recovery. The slow reassemblage of a life that can no longer be assumed whole nor compared to what it was before. Mohan's deconstru...