MADreads

A fun read about cancer

July 1st, 2009 Molly - Central

I am not exaggerating about this.  Kelly Corrigan’s account of dealing with breast cancer at the same time that her dad is dealing with bladder cancer is a funny, funny book.  I laughed out loud while reading it on a plane.  That’s crazy, right?

The title of the book, The Middle Place, refers to the generation that is parenting and being parented at the same time.  Kelly is a grown woman, a writer living in California with a family of her own, when she discovers a lump in her breast.  She has a biopsy and discovers she has late-stage breast cancer.  While she is recounting her trials with chemotherapy, radiation, and the many drugs she is taking, she fills us in on her childhood and family.  She grew up in a tight-knit Irish Catholic family in Philadelphia and her relationship with her dad is one for the books.  He is one of those perpetually upbeat, energetic, affectionate people that everyone loves.  When she finds out that his cancer has returned, she is devastated.  She is torn between wanting him to come take care of her and trying to manage his care from the opposite coast.

Cancer is tough, but people are tough, too, and the way Kelly takes on her treatment and then her father’s is nothing short of admirable.  But this book is not all cancer, all the time.  There’s a lot of love and life in these pages.  Adorable toddlers and preschoolers, adventures abroad, the Dot-com bust and what it means to be a Corrigan (does your family have a fight song?  C-O-double R-I-G-A-N spells Corrigan).  Kelly’s the kind of woman who honestly admits to fighting with her mother over Guess jeans in 1984, losing a coveted job at The Limited AND her virginity in the same chapter that follows her reaction to a three-year-old calling her bald, chemo-ridden self “monster”.  How does one combine all of these things seamlessly?  I’m telling you, it is funny.

This is probably one of those books that you have been thinking about reading, that is making the rounds of the book groups, and I say, why wait?  Don’t put it off, it is surprisingly light and you will feel enriched and grateful after reading it.

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography