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| Five Lessons I Didn't Learn From Breast Cancer (And One Big One I Did) | 
 enlarge | Author: Shelley Lewis
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $12.45
You Save: $11.50 (48%)
New (5) from $12.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 1677871
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 5.5 x 1.1
ISBN: 1593161395
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196994490092
EAN: 9781593161392
ASIN: 1593161395
Publication Date: May 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
From the pink ribbons to the chat rooms to the Web sites that sell related accessories and stuffed animals, breast cancer has morphed from a disease to an experience. And at every step of the way, society tells women that this experience can teach them profound lessons, transform them into wiser, more insightful people, and maybe even give them a peek at the meaning of life. But what if it doesn't? Five Lessons I Didn't Learn From Breast Cancer is Shelley Lewis's thoroughly modern, slightly contrarian take on 'doing' breast cancer in an epiphany-free zone, where the goal is simply to get through it and get the hell back to your life. Proving that chemotherapy can eradicate everything except a sense of humor. Lewis shares her five strategies for coping, and then reveals the real, not-so-meaningful insights learned from breast cancer, including 'If you honestly think breast cancer is a gift, you can't come to my birthday' and 'Lie to yourself (it's sooo helpful).' A wonderful interweaving of the author's personal story, interviews with breast cancer survivors, and a sharp-eyed journalist's look at the breast cancer 'community.' Five Lessons is full of unconventional wisdom, unexpected advice, and hilarious observations about life inside the pink bubble.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
The perfect antidote for when the "pinkapalooza" makes you sick! May 10, 2008
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Have you received a breast cancer diagnosis? Got a friend who has? Before you make another move, read this funny and truthful lowdown from Shelley Lewis, whose emotional viewpoint matches mine so precisely I can't shake the feeling that I should've written it myself (after all, I went through this a year before she did). Unlike just about every other book on the breast cancer "experience," with its pretty pink cover and its crapola about how dealing with breast cancer will make you a "better person" (just like it supposedly made its author!), Lewis gets down to the real nitty-gritty. Namely: Breast cancer, at least for some people, isn't a "spiritual growth program," a "journey" or a "gift." It's not the ultimate opportunity for the perfect boob makeover. It's not necessarily going to turn you into Lance Armstrong and an inspiration to everyone. It's just a DISEASE--a scary, upsetting DISEASE that makes you hope you can get through the treatment so you can get back to your life--if at all possible.
Lewis tells you the truth about breast cancer: it's OK to feel however you do, optimistic or lousy. That you didn't get this disease because somehow you asked for it (and if someone implies you did, you can cheerfully tell them where to stick it). That having a bad or negative attitude or feeling depressed on occasion is perfectly normal, and it won't kill you. That whatever decisions you make about how to deal with your disease are OK, so long as you are the one driving the bus--even if that means putting yourself in the hands of a team of physicians you utterly trust and doing whatever they say. There are no do's-and-don'ts here about chemo, radiation, hair loss, breast reconstruction, anything--the message here is that each person's situation is unique, and each choice is uniquely one's own. You get to pick what's right for you, even if it's not right for anyone else. The book also offers useful advice as to how to support people with breast cancer, and how people with breast cancer can ask for the kind of support they need.
There's also a little critical time spent on examining the whole "pinkapalooza" phenomenon and how breast cancer became the ultimate poster-child of "cause marketing," following in the footsteps of the AIDS red-ribbon movement. Lewis looks a bit more kindly on this than I do--I would happily dump "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" any day, if all it means is people buying a container of yogurt and thinking they've done something noble. But she at least points out that it's wise to question where the profits from "pink-ribbon products" truly go, and aims some well-deserved snark at the multitude of Web sites out there peddling breast cancer teddy bears, angels and fairies, essentially saying that if that stuff makes you want to barf worse than any chemo could, it's OK.
One caution: This book best applies to those whose prognosis is fairly good, who are just going to have to deal with a lot of misery before getting out of the woods. If you have breast cancer and your prognosis is poor, you may want to have a friend read this first and decide whether or not it's right for you or which parts of it you may find helpful, and you may find another voice more supportive and comforting than Lewis's. But if it's looking as if you'll be OK if you just follow a reasonable-if-hellish program of treatment (you get to decide what's reasonable), this book is for you, and belongs on your shelf next to DR. SUSAN LOVE'S BREAST BOOK and Suzanne Strempek Shea's excellent SONGS FOR A LEAD-LINED ROOM.
Not just for breast cancer patients June 4, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Part memoir, part how-to book, "The Five Lessons I Didn't Learn from Breast Cancer" has universal appeal for all sorts of cancers, even the "non-female" kind like my non Hodgkin's lymphoma. Though there are plenty of how-to tips for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, I enjoyed this book because of Lewis' take on the "Tyranny of Positive Thinking" and the pinkapalooza cartel. I respect her choice not to call herself a "survivor," though I wonder if it's really because, as she says, Death wasn't at her door, but rather sent her a "Thinking of You Card." (For me, Death had pulled into the driveway and parked the car.) Never whiny and often downright funny, this book is a must-read for anyone who has been sucker punched by cancer.
A different point of view May 12, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
My sister had breast cancer, so I often look for books that might be of interest to her (or me.) When I saw this title I was intrigued, but more so when I noticed the author. Having read and loved Lewis's first book (Naked Republicans) I could not imagine how someone with her irreverent sense of humor would handle a serious topic like breast cancer. I should have known...she handles it in much the same way! Yes, it is a serious topic but as she points out it doesn't change who you are as a person. From what I can tell after reading her two books, it didn't change her at all. It is very funny, but deals with serious issues intelligently and thoughtfully. I especially liked the emphasis on advocacy and research. If you have breast cancer this will give you a different perspective than most of the books out there. If you know someone with breast cancer, especially someone recently diagnosed, buy this book for them. Read it first though, because it will help you be a better and more supportive friend.
Finally a real breast cancer experience June 2, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Picked up this book after my second breast cancer diagnosis. Shelley describes her experience much as my own, the first time round. Cancer is not a gift, you get through it as best you can and you do what you need to keep it from overwhelming your life. There is much humor and a realistic career woman's world view in her experience. I wish I had had this book as a reference my first time round, instead I had thought myself callous for trying to get through it as undramatic and simply as possible. "Doing" cancer, as you "do" your life never occured to me before, but it will give me resolve this second time round. Great book. Thanks to Shelley for her honesty and for sharing.
The best breast cancer book I have read June 25, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Being a 3 time breast cancer repeat offender, this book rang more true than any of the others I have read. I was beginning to feel guilty about not having a spiritual experience until I read this book. Also I was getting quite peeved about "the race" because they don't interview people with multiple occurences. They only show happy, happy, happy faces of those with 1 occurence. What are we, chopped liver?
This book has made me rethink my advice to first time offenders. It is certainly the most honest book I have read about this awful disease. I highly recommend it to any breast cancer patient or family member of patient.
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