Coma Girl: A daily Serial, Part 2 by Stephanie Bond explores the increasing awareness of Marigold about the way her vegetative state is seen by her family members, medical personnel attending her, and visiting friends. Marigold is also curious about a visiting poet but her inputs are still limited to the senses of hearing and smell. This part (2) deals with August, part one records July, and the part three which I reviewed elsewhere covers September.

In this part, Marigold is concerned about her own uncertainty about the accident which put her into a coma. She was driving … she thinks. She might have been talking on the phone while driving. As with many things, she can’t remember. A new visitor, her boss Percy arrives; he hadn’t visited in part one, the previous month. Her sister Sidney, Dr. Jarvis, her friend Roberta, lonely detective Jack Terry, her brother Alex visiting by Skype, and a small girl bestowing magic powers all contribute material which Marigold considers, rejects, sometimes accepts, and reacts to for the benefit of the reader.

We get updates on the health of the other three patients in a vegetative state. Of particular encouragement to Marigold is the one patient who woke up suddenly after a sleep of many years and went home. Read the story to find out which one woke up. Then there is the romantic relationship between nurse Gina and Gabriel. And maybe between Gabriel and someone else. The mysterious Poet reappears; this is one of the most intriguing mysteries. What is his interest in Marigold? Faridee the psychic fraud visits. But is he really a fraud?

And there is a surprising end to this Part 2. Which is why I shouldn’t have read part three first. ( )