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Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics By Miriam Engelberg ( Harper Paperbacks )
Release Date: 2006-05-01
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $14.95
Price: $11.39
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Product Description
a cartoonist examines her experience with breast cancer in an irreverent and humorous graphic memoir.
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 A quick and original read
Miriam Engelberg has accomplished in her memoir something that is both original and insightful, made possible by her near pessimistic tone and wit. Her book, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person, surveys nearly everything between her emotional meltdown at work upon her diagnosis of breast cancer to her lack of revelation during her treatment. The narration is both humorous and near satirical seen in Engelberg's ploy and play on the protocols and strangeness of cancer and all its entities. Engelberg leaves nothing out of her book- not even the awkwardness that cancer strikes up. Whether it's a blue wig, noticing a person's redirection of attention to your bosom after you tell them it's breast cancer, or inability to anything else but watch television- Engelberg leaves nothing out. The conclusion of the book deals with the discovery of Engelberg's cancer relapse and metastasis in other organs. It is here that Engelberg exposes the most about her feelings and makes a true effort to defining her life while maintaining her distinctive and hilarious voice.
What makes this book so interesting is the medium in which Engelberg chooses to tell her story- comics. But this isn't your classic DC's, Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person uses the advantages of comics and their ability to divert from the plot and add, no pun intended, comic relief and the author's real thoughts in a fresh way. The book's mission is not inform a reader about cancer as seen in its use of layman's terms and avoidance of the detailed biological processes of cancer but it is instead created to entertain and make cancer seem maybe not as bad and show that life doesn't end after diagnosis. However, Engelberg is very insightful on the effects of chemo and how it riddled her social and emotional life though she does her best sometimes to make it seem nonexistent.
This is the first time that I have ever read a graphic novel and found this type of medium both effective and extremely entertaining. The voice and tone of Engelberg's writing is not geared toward self-sympathy nor holds a "poor little me" attitude but a reader still likes and sympathizes with the narrator because her personality which typically pushes away erratic emotions, and embraces her own flaws is occasionally broken and changed and it is that near breakdown that draws a reader into Engelberg's case. Here is a lady who has had cancer already and gone through the all the chemo and radiation and emotional stress- then it relapses into Stage IV breast cancer but she's found a way to cope with her comics. It is her ability to continue on to do what she likes that inspirational to any of her readers.
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 Comic Genius ( stressmagnet )
This book present facts, emotions and all other kinds of stuff in a way that makes you laugh at the whole perversity of the universe. Worth a read, definitely worth owning -- especially for the newly diagnosed.
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She got it right
As a recovered (so far) cancer patient, I found myself laughing out loud at Miriam's amazingly right-on takes about the emotional roller coaster ride of cancer. It's hard to be told how "brave" and "noble" one is when all we are doing is trying to survive.
I immediately went online to check anything else by Miriam Engelberg, and was saddened to learn of her death two years ago. I felt I'd lost a close friend.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is going through treatment. It affirms the freedom to be just yourself even in a time of crisis.
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 Not so Shallow for a Shallow Person ( haralee2 )
Miriam articulates well what many of us with cancer want to say or at least think.The comics had the end printed on the last frame which made it really nice to read just a few strips or several at a time. My favorites are: Every thing is my Enemy, Nausea, and the Cheerful Tech.This is a fun read for those enlightened cancer patients who don't take it all so seriously. If you have had, or have the big C, you have to chuckle over some of these comics. Great recommendation for family members too while they are waiting with you during chemo.I wish Miriam, my little grass hopper, positive thoughts
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 Definitely not upbeat ( famousperson )
In spite of its semi-witty title, and being written in cartoon style, this is not a funny book. The author is very honest, sometimes painfully so, about her reactions to being told she has cancer, how having it affects her relationships with the people in her life, her experience with her treatments, and her thoughts on having cancer in general
The way she copes is to permenently plant herself in front of the television and become obsessed with TV Guide crossword puzzles. Her utimate conclusion is that knowing you are going to die takes all meaning out of life. Memories and past accomplishements are empty of significance, and there is no point in incurring new experiences.
What, she was planning on living for ever? We are all going to die someday and we, some of us, anyway, are bound and determined to make the most of the life we have. As a cancer survivor (so far) myself, I do not recommend this book to anybody looking for humor, hope or cheer.
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Addiction
