Book Review - Cancer Vixen

One day a couple of weeks ago I went out to check my mail and found a copy of Cancer Vixen waiting for me. I've been rather curious about this little book. I've heard very differing views on it, from the good, to the bad, to the mocking. Cancer Vixen is a graphic novel based on Marisa Acocella Marchetto's own experience with breast cancer and how she kicked its butt - in 5-inch heels no less. You can click here to see a short promo video for the book.

I liked Cancer Vixen. I thought that it was fun. It reminded me of a bit of chick-lit only instead of a guy there was cancer and she was trying to get rid of rather than get it. The requisite career in media and magazines is there. The main characters the parties where people go see to be seen and is also engaged to one of New York's top restauranteurs. Then weeks before their nuptuals Marchetto is diagnosed with breast cancer. Will her fiance support her? Will be run away? What kind of shoes will she wear to chemo?

Before reading this I had read several books about breast cancer and while they were not bad books (not at all, quite the opposite) they were weighing heavy on my mind. Cancer Vixen is no less serious than any of the books I've already read but the humour allows the reader to think "Ha! Take that cancer!". But it's not all humour. Between the shoes and the night spent on one of New York's hottest restaurants Marchetto asks the big questions. What causes cancer? Did I do anything that caused this? Why me? She calls this the "Cancer Guessing Game". She brings to attention some cancer clusters and some statistics comparing survival rates to economic status and race. I finished the book thinking that Marchetto ended her cancer treatments with the desire to live life slower, fully and with a focus on the positive. It seemed to me that she goes a better sense of herself and those around her.

Not everyone is going to love this book. Not everyone is going to like seeing cancer portrayed with humour. But for those of us who can approach the big and scary things with our sense of humour in tact, this book is refreshing. We are allowed, and even more that than that we are encouraged, to laugh in the face of something scary and serious. Sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.

Are you blogging about women's health? We invite you to add your link to our list, Blogging Our Health - Breast Cancer and Beyond.

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Image courtesy of the Random House Canada page for Cancer Vixen.
This book was sent to me from a representative of Random House Canada. No payment was received in exchange for this review. The suggested retail price of this book is less than US$ 45, and therefore, in accordance with BlogHer Editorial Guidelines. It will be passed on to another blogger or donated to my local library.

Contributing Editor Sassymonkey also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.

Submitted by sassymonkey (view blog

) on Sat, 10/21/2006 - 08:51

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you have to laugh

I just finished reading Cancer Vixen yesterday. I enjoyed it - but then again I'm someone who relies heavily on humour to get through the tough spots. And there is much about cancer and the awkwardness of being a patient that is very humorous.

Marisa is very different from me and our lives, pre-cancer were quite different, yet there is much about her experience that really spoke to me (and I asked many of the same questions she did as to the 'whys'). For example, I too felt that I was at a really key point in my career and one of the things that made me angriest was that I really did not want to see my life derailed by cancer treatment. And, I too have come to view life differently, seek more balance and, I think, that I am a stronger more confident person for having had cancer.

One thing you don't mention in your review, Sassymonkey, is that Marisa is pre-menopausal at the time of diagnosis, raising issues of fertility and the weirdness that is going through menopause at 43 (or in my case, 38).

There is not a lot of good writing out there speaking to those of us who are younger (in breast cancer terms) and this is one of the things I really appreciated about Cancer Vixen.

Thanks so much for the review.

laurie
www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com

Submitted by laurie on Sat, 10/21/2006 - 13:55

You are right

I had forgotten to comment on that. I think perhaps because this is the fourth book I've read this month where the individual who was diagnosed with breast cancer was premenopausal.

Have you read Dr. Marla Shapiro's A Life in the Balance? I didn't review it here because it seems to only have distribution in Canada but I thought it was quite good.

Sassymonkey, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

Submitted by sassymonkey on Sun, 10/22/2006 - 17:18

not yet

A Life in the Balance came out just as I was finishing radiation and needed a break from reading/writing about cancer as recovered. It is on my list, though.

What were the others, other than "My One Night Stand with Cancer?", (which I know you've reviewed).

laurie
www.notjustaboutcancer.blogspot.com

Submitted by laurie on Sun, 10/22/2006 - 18:29

Hmmm

I think other than Dr. Marla's (I really cannot think of her as anything else...) the only other one I've read so far but not talked about here is Ice Bound about Dr. Jerri Nielson. I read that after I read Dr. Marla's books and it was quite interesting to compare the experiences of two doctors from different fields of medicine and under totally different circumstances, although Ice Bound is predominantly about her experience in the South Pole. She really only talks about her experience with breast cancer in the last 1/4-1/3 of the book and it more or less ends with her being evacuated from the South Pole so she receive treatment in the US.

I have two more planned to talk about here (one fiction, one non-fiction) and then there is a YA book I'll likely talk about on my own blog.

It does seem that I have picked books where the individual is young for breast cancer diagnosis. I don't know if this was a subconscious thing due to my own age or if more younger women are publishing books about their experiences.

Sassymonkey, Sassymonkey Reads, and Sassymonkey Eats

Submitted by sassymonkey on Mon, 10/23/2006 - 05:44

Laurie, sounds like...

you may have a book in you too?

And, I too have come to view life differently, seek more balance and, I think, that I am a stronger more confident person for having had cancer.

I've never had cancer myself, but the cancers that have taken members of my family and friends have swept people away in a matter of months. So it's given me pause to read this paragraph above. I definitely won't miss Cancer Vixen -- great review Sassy! -- but it sounds like I should be reading more of you too. Thanks.

Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Submitted by Lisa Stone on Sun, 10/22/2006 - 07:13