An empathetic and appealing handbook on all aspects of breast cancer and its treatment.
A self-help work that offers a comprehensive overview of dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis.
At the start of her book, Karole, a certified health care professional and health administrator based in New York, makes an observation about breast cancer that will be familiar to survivors of all types of cancer: that it’s “a lifelong journey,” and it’s one that she hopes she can ease with this book. The author was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 49, and in these pages, she chronicles her own story to offer advice that readers can broadly apply to their own situations. The well-designed work enlivens its main text with insets that offer concise definitions of basics, such as chemotherapy and radiation, as well as medical devices, such as a Jackson-Pratt drain, and fields such as integrative medicine. There are also mentions of specific people who influenced Karole during her own journey and boxed “Mini-Mentions” that expand on the material at hand. The author’s inclusive approach—encompassing her own story, those of friends and acquaintances, and even occasional celebrities—allows her to touch on a wide spectrum of issues, from psychologically coming to terms with a diagnosis to navigating the complexities of the medical industry. Along the way, she offers generous helpings of low-key but helpful encouragement and advice. For example, she urges readers to ask questions and do research regarding their doctors but also stresses that one should not let this aspect act as a delay to the treatment process: “It's a tough balance,” she writes, “between figuring out in whose hands you will literally be putting your life and your breasts and how long you will take before actually getting treated.” Readers dealing with breast cancer, as well as their loved ones and other helpers, will find this book’s combination of information and good sense to be invaluable.
An empathetic and appealing handbook on all aspects of breast cancer and its treatment.Pub Date: Aug. 10, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-950892-82-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Clovercroft Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.
The late actor offers a gentle guide for living with more purpose, love, and joy.
Mixing poetry, prescriptive challenges, and elements of memoir, Heche (1969-2022) delivers a narrative that is more encouraging workbook than life story. The author wants to share what she has discovered over the course of a life filled with abuse, advocacy, and uncanny turning points. Her greatest discovery? Love. “Open yourself up to love and transform kindness from a feeling you extend to those around you to actions that you perform for them,” she writes. “Only by caring can we open ourselves up to the universe, and only by opening up to the universe can we fully experience all the wonders that it holds, the greatest of which is love.” Throughout the occasionally overwrought text, Heche is heavy on the concept of care. She wants us to experience joy as she does, and she provides a road map for how to get there. Instead of slinking away from Hollywood and the ridicule that she endured there, Heche found the good and hung on, with Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford starring as particularly shining knights in her story. Some readers may dismiss this material as vapid Hollywood stuff, but Heche’s perspective is an empathetic blend of Buddhism (minimize suffering), dialectical behavioral therapy (tolerating distress), Christianity (do unto others), and pre-Socratic philosophy (sufficient reason). “You’re not out to change the whole world, but to increase the levels of love and kindness in the world, drop by drop,” she writes. “Over time, these actions wear away the coldness, hate, and indifference around us as surely as water slowly wearing away stone.” Readers grieving her loss will take solace knowing that she lived her love-filled life on her own terms. Heche’s business and podcast partner, Heather Duffy, writes the epilogue, closing the book on a life well lived.
A sweet final word from an actor who leaves a legacy of compassion and kindness.Pub Date: Jan. 24, 2023
ISBN: 9781627783316
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Viva Editions
Review Posted Online: Feb. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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