Written by
Additional Posts
Aren’t there enough breast cancer books already, not to mention websites, movies, television interviews, and newspaper and magazine articles? Do we breast cancer patients and survivors really need yet another cancer book?
Yes, we do! We need Cancer Vixen, a funny, smart, entertaining, highly educational, never boring literally graphic breast cancer adventure in full fab comic-book color by 43-year-old New Yorker and Glamour cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto.
I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this book, which was apparently previewed in a recent issue of Glamour magazine. I was browsing through my public library’s new biography and memoir section--I thought it might be nice to read about somebody else for a change--and there it was: CANCER VIXEN in hot pink, yellow-outlined capital letters on a purple cover, with the blond ruby-clad Vixen herself in full “take this, Cancer!” high-heeled Karate kick-mode.
Finally there is a book that tells the story of a woman finding a lump and how that feels and where it takes her and how that feels in full comic-book color filling every one of 211 square pages. Marchetto fights her cancer with humor, honesty, and high style. I even loved her exaggerations, which did not seem exaggerated to me. I loved the way she got even with mean and nasty people, a satisfaction I’ve never allowed myself.
Cancer Vixen tells her own breast cancer story in full detail, from finding the lump through her romance with Silvano (her always-supportive Italian restauranteur) to visits with her various physicians (always in the reluctant but loyal company of her formidable mother), second opinions, every single detail of her first chemotherapy (When’s your birthday?) and which shoes she wore to every chemo appointment, radiation, the works.
It’s all there—you can read it, see it, hear it (plenty of sound effects and speech balloons), and feel it too. I found this book so evocative of my own cancer experience (minus the fabulous Silvano, sigh) that I recommend it to anyone surviving or in treatment for breast cancer, and to anyone close to someone surviving or diagnosed with breast cancer.
I would not, however, recommend this book to the casual reader. Although it’s a wonderful read, I think the detail, which those of us in the same boat so find helpful, might scare the general reader silly and make her even more afraid of cancer than she probably already is. But for those of us in the breast cancer boat, studies have shown (stay tuned for that blog) that knowing what’s coming actually helps lessen pain. Fear of the unknown is apparently more painful than hard facts.
I couldn’t put this book down. Imagine, a breast-cancer page-turner. So if you qualify as an appropriate reader, here’s my advice: Go out right now, put down your $22.00, pour yourself your favorite beverage, and curl up with the indomitable Cancer Vixen. It’ll make your day.
For another perspective on Cancer Vixen, please visit Beth Brophy's blog.
Yes, we do! We need Cancer Vixen, a funny, smart, entertaining, highly educational, never boring literally graphic breast cancer adventure in full fab comic-book color by 43-year-old New Yorker and Glamour cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto.
I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this book, which was apparently previewed in a recent issue of Glamour magazine. I was browsing through my public library’s new biography and memoir section--I thought it might be nice to read about somebody else for a change--and there it was: CANCER VIXEN in hot pink, yellow-outlined capital letters on a purple cover, with the blond ruby-clad Vixen herself in full “take this, Cancer!” high-heeled Karate kick-mode.
Finally there is a book that tells the story of a woman finding a lump and how that feels and where it takes her and how that feels in full comic-book color filling every one of 211 square pages. Marchetto fights her cancer with humor, honesty, and high style. I even loved her exaggerations, which did not seem exaggerated to me. I loved the way she got even with mean and nasty people, a satisfaction I’ve never allowed myself.
Cancer Vixen tells her own breast cancer story in full detail, from finding the lump through her romance with Silvano (her always-supportive Italian restauranteur) to visits with her various physicians (always in the reluctant but loyal company of her formidable mother), second opinions, every single detail of her first chemotherapy (When’s your birthday?) and which shoes she wore to every chemo appointment, radiation, the works.
It’s all there—you can read it, see it, hear it (plenty of sound effects and speech balloons), and feel it too. I found this book so evocative of my own cancer experience (minus the fabulous Silvano, sigh) that I recommend it to anyone surviving or in treatment for breast cancer, and to anyone close to someone surviving or diagnosed with breast cancer.
I would not, however, recommend this book to the casual reader. Although it’s a wonderful read, I think the detail, which those of us in the same boat so find helpful, might scare the general reader silly and make her even more afraid of cancer than she probably already is. But for those of us in the breast cancer boat, studies have shown (stay tuned for that blog) that knowing what’s coming actually helps lessen pain. Fear of the unknown is apparently more painful than hard facts.
I couldn’t put this book down. Imagine, a breast-cancer page-turner. So if you qualify as an appropriate reader, here’s my advice: Go out right now, put down your $22.00, pour yourself your favorite beverage, and curl up with the indomitable Cancer Vixen. It’ll make your day.
For another perspective on Cancer Vixen, please visit Beth Brophy's blog.
