Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics

by Miriam Engelberg

Book Overview

a cartoonist examines her experience with breast cancer in an irreverent and humorous graphic memoir. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060789735
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 126 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.0" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

My life as a comic strip

As someone with metastatic breast cancer, I felt as though Miriam were writing about my own life. Who knew that those of us with breast cancer had such universal experiences? (Thank you for giving us that awareness, Miriam.) When I suggested to my family that cancer could be funny, they seriously doubted me and my sanity until they read this book. The "which breast?" cartoon made us all hysterical, and made me long to have t-shirt just like the one portrayed in the strip. The book is poignant, irreverant, laugh-out-loud funny, and truer than true.

Wonderfully thought-provoking (and laugh-provoking at times)

One might no longer feel as though on an island of despair after reading this comic-format book. Many of the issues and concerns and the self-blame for why one has gotten cancer - as well as how various people react to cancer within themselves, or among their friends, relatives, co-workers and strangers - are addressed in a thought-provoking manner that at times makes you laugh, but most of all, makes you realize that you are not alone. This is not a book covering all the latest treatment options, how to deal with the therapies and so forth. It is a charming and witty and yet soberingly realistic look at life with cancer. And it also a wonderful comic-relief from some of the (often times quite frightening) issues and concerns of having cancer. It also helps one to realize that many others in the same boat are having the same feelings. I thought that some of the pertinent things covered in the book are: - blaming yourself for having eaten the wrong things or having lived the wrong lifestyle - eating all that cheese, or greasy junk food full of preservatives, or drinking all that diet soda, or talking too much on the cell phone. - how people with different forms of cancer sometimes have trouble relating to each other and how people with the same forms of cancer tend to form cliques for this reason. - the notion of being a cancer survivor: when does it begin (upon diagnosis?) and when does it end (are you still a survivor in your deathbed, drawing your last few gasps of air?) If you have recently been diagnosed with cancer, or are fighting it, or know someone near and dear who is going through it - READ THIS BOOK. Add it to the list of how-to's and serious medical books. It will help you understand how the human psyche responds to this form of crisis just a little better.

I laughed, I cried

Miriam Engelberg's graphic tale of her encounter with cancer is the best I've ever read. It's gripping, sympathetic, bitterly funny and gut-wrenchingly sad all at the same time. They (whoever they are) say humor helps boost the immune system. I'm not a doctor but I could dress up as one and I'd prescribe this book in a heartbeat. Don't read it if you go for the schmaltzy stuff. Read it if you want to laugh, cry and shake your fist at the fates.

Refreshing take on living with cancer

Miriam gets it right in each cartoon panel, revealing her fears, relaying her lack of belief in a superior being who doesn't seem to be overly interested in what happens to some of us "down here", and the weird/stupid stuff she goes through during her cancer treatments -- wig shopping, perusing the "uplifting" manuals and books available on the subject of facing one's cancer diagnosis, and much more. In comic book form, one person's very thoughtful take on what it means to be alive and facing death at the same time becomes real for every reader. Couldn't be better. Karen Aitchison

A fresh look at how someone's life changes with a cancer diagnosis

Cancer Made me a Shallower Person, by Miriam Engelberg, is a memoir in comics. If you are used to thinking of comics as being time-wasters for teenage boys, then this book might be a good introduction to the power that comics can have when they are written for adults. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi would be another good one to check out (it is about her life growing up in Iran), as well as the Dykes to Watch Out For series by Alison Bechdel (hilarious series, meant for liberal women, and is very funny and touching). Engelberg talks about the changes that came into her life when she was diagnosed with cancer, and recalls with humor and gentle intelligence the experiences and feelings involved in getting diagnosed with cancer, going through the treatment, and living through the experience. She manages to turn most of her experiences, even the incredibly scary and painful ones, into bittersweet, touching humor, which makes this a valuable resource for those who have cancer. This book is like hanging out with a witty and smart girlfriend, and I think a woman with cancer would really enjoy feeling like she wasn't alone in the experience. It was a bit hard for me to read in places, because I don't have cancer and so haven't really had to face some of the difficult realities that she discusses. But I wanted to read it to understand a bit of what my friend's Mom is going through in her struggle with cancer, so even though it was painful in places, I thought it was a really valuable read. 11/06 - Just wanted to edit my review to say "rest in peace" to our dear author friend. After reading her book I felt like she became sort of a friend to me, and when I heard that she passed away last month I felt deeply saddened. She has touched so many of us with her writing and, I hear, her appearances, in which she showed a grace and down to earth friendliness which seemed to bring everyone attending into her circle of friends. I am grateful to have "known" her through her writing, and I wish her family peace.