Inspiring, instructive memoir for cancer patients and their loved ones.
In this debut memoir developed from her blog, a California attorney shares her transformative journey following a midlife cancer diagnosis.
In 2011, Mock’s life was humming. A successful San Francisco lawyer, she was enjoying her “midlife crisis convertible,” her 50th birthday gift to herself, and studying Italian to further enjoy her trips abroad. Then she got a curveball: a little lump on her neck led to a diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer. The news was a game-changer: some friends disappeared, and her relationship with girlfriend Andrea eventually fell apart. Mock started a blog (from which this book is developed) to share her emotions and experiences, particularly her determination to battle and live beyond her illness. While undergoing a hysterectomy and many rounds of chemo, Mock avoided Internet research, encased her head in deep-freeze “Penguin Caps” to prevent hair loss, and regularly exercised. She emerged from her treatment with clear medical scans and a fresh perspective, with work/life balance a new priority. She participated in LiveStrong biking events (despite mixed emotions about Lance Armstrong) and, best of all, met beautiful, supportive Carole, who soon became her wife. Today, Mock continues to have worries—including a 2013 spike in abnormal scans—but she decided “to pursue joy, not gloom,” fully aware that “staying true to the wisdom gained from having cancer is an ongoing process.” Mock wrote this lively, motivating memoir from the cancer trenches, providing many black-and-white photos of herself that reflect her philosophy of bringing positive energy to a cancer diagnosis. She offers numerous examples of such behavior not only in her own actions, but from those around her, including from her Italian teacher; the book’s title comes from an English translation of the latter’s remark, “Non tutto il male viene per nuocere.” While some readers may question Mock’s emphasis on exercise to battle disease, she discusses this idea within the context of describing her entire course of care.
Inspiring, instructive memoir for cancer patients and their loved ones.Pub Date: July 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-49-176708-5
Page Count: 186
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
