Cancer Doesn't Give a Shit About Your Stupid Attitude Reflections on Cancer and Catholicism - edition by Mary Valle. Religion & Spirituality eBooks @ .
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According to writer and illustrator Mary Valle, the pink platitudes about breast cancer are lies. Cancer is a disease, not a test of strength or a blessing in disguise. And as Valle was irradiated, biopsied and operated upon, she began to feel less like a person and more like a body. Raised Catholic but never one to cling to convention, Valle sought comfort from her own patron saints, including Emily Dickinson, Saint Agatha and Loki. Originally published in the online religion magazine Killing the Buddha, Valle’s drawings, poems and dispatches on cancer and Catholicism are collected here for the first time. Harrowing, hilarious and human, "Cancer Doesn't Give A Shit About Your Stupid Attitude" is unlike any other book you've read.
Cancer Doesn't Give a Shit About Your Stupid Attitude Reflections on Cancer and Catholicism - edition by Mary Valle. Religion & Spirituality eBooks @ .
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Cancer Doesn't Give a Shit About Your Stupid Attitude Reflections on Cancer and Catholicism - edition by Mary Valle. Religion & Spirituality eBooks @ . Reviews
This little book of essays packs an emotional punch. Mary Valle's self-awareness is almost alarmingly crystalline, and peeking into her brain while she maneuvers through cancer and questions of faith is --- not a delight, I guess, because I'd so much rather read her take on something fluffy and sweet. But life gives lemons and tumors and cellulite. I literally laughed and cried simultaneously, and look forward to reading more from Ms. Valle's magnificent brain in the future.
....but many of us will end up. Mary Valle offers an honest, sometimes funny, sometimes sad voice, that wakes you up and makes you think. She attacks the notion head on that Cancer, or any disease, is a feeling, prowling, punishing entity. By finally admitting that disease is not a punishment for bad attitudes, or bad behavior, and cures are not the result of a cheerful disposition, she sets herself apart from the usual disease memoir platitudes and banalities, and starts a real conversation about the nature of life, living, health and yes, even death.
A long-time fan of Mary Valle's writings on Killing the Buddha and elsewhere, I'm elated to see her work come together in one place. Her humor and anger weave together, creating an alchemy of honesty too rare in writing about cancer or religion, let alone when grappling with both. In the spirit of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars, Valle's book should have just as wide a reach. Highly recommended, for those with cancer and those who know someone with cancer (is there anyone outside these two categories?), as well as those troubled and allured by the idea of pure belief.
I've been spending a lot of time at a cancer hospital lately (as a friend, not a patient) and this book has helped me make sense of that completely unwanted but necessary experience. Mary proves the paradox 1) there is no point or purpose or answer to cancer-- cancer doesn't care; and 2) there are so many strange scraps and flickers of meaning to try to salvage in the world of deadly illness, there is a continuous running joke absurdity that cracks you up and shatters you, there are allegories and thoughts and prayers and vows and signs everywhere you look. No one wants to be in Cancerland, but if you have to go there take Mary Valle with you. She is such good company.
Over the years I've loved reading Mary Valle's haunting and hilarious dispatches from the cancer ward at Killing the Buddha. I really can't recommend this enough — as a gift to yourself or a friend or loved one. I'm moved near tears even just thinking about what her words might do for you, as they've done so much for me.
In this book, Mary shares her experiences with cancer, cancer treatment and the accompanying isolation and alienation which are often rouged over in mainsteam cancer media. With tenderness and wit, she brings us a dispatch from the inside--inside waiting rooms, uninsured cars, mass. If you know someone who has cancer and is not floating on a pink cloud of hope ribbons, buy this for them. Buy it for yourself if you are nosy, or like to laugh and cry in the span of 10 minutes. It is not the done thing to speak plainly about being angry, unsure about religion, or desperate to be well. But if you are any of these things, it surely means something to know you are not the only one. Well written and sharp. Highly reccommend. Watch for her on the terrific site Killing the Buddha.
It is hard not to be moved by this short book of essays, from the directness of the author's confrontations with cancer and its indignities to her directness in confronting Catholicism and the God it says it represents. But this is not your standard "my battle/struggle/journey/triumph over" cancer narrative. Ms. Valle aims for--and achieves--something deeper, more existential, but also more amusing. All topped off with charming drawings that seem to reflect a kind of innocence that clearly cannot exist given the state of her life and the treatments she has endured.
In short very much worth reading.
I've been reading Mary Valle's smart, funny, terrifying dispatches from cancerland for years now on Killing the Buddha, and I've even gone so far as to collect them on my computer. They needed to be a book, and now they are. As essays and meditations, these are some of the most interesting entries of recent years. Colloquial in tone, they're deeply considered, subtly brilliant, entirely human. This is a book I wish I could have read when my mother was dying of cancer. I wish my mother could have read it, too. I think she would have loved it; I think it would have felt necessary. Which is what my comments here add up to This book is necessary. And even if you don't think you have any interest in the subject, consider this When was the last time you read a book that was necessary in any way? Here's your chance.
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