Cancer Vixen: A True Story [Hardcover]

Marisa Acocella Marchetto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

“What happens when a shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, single-forever, about-to-get-married big-city girl cartoonist with a fabulous life finds . . . a lump in her breast?” That’s the question that sets this powerful, funny, and poignant graphic memoir in motion. In vivid color and with a taboo-breaking sense of humor, Marisa Acocella Marchetto tells the story of her eleven-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer—from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between.

But Cancer Vixen is about more than surviving an illness. It is a portrait of one woman’s supercharged life in Manhattan, and a wonderful love story. Marisa, self-described “terminal bachelorette,” meets her Prince Charming in Silvano, owner of the chic downtown restaurant Da Silvano. Three weeks before their wedding, she receives her diagnosis. She wonders: How will he react to this news? How will my world change? Will I even survive? And . . . what about my hair?

From raucous New Yorker staff lunches and the star-studded crowd at Silvano’s restaurant to the rainbow pumps Marisa wears to chemotherapy, Cancer Vixen is a total original. Marisa’s wit and courage are an inspiration—she’s a cancer vixen, not its victim.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto's graphic memoir about her battle with breast cancer is as bold, vibrant, and brave as she is--pumped full of color, the story leaps off the page and into your heart. Poignant and funny, this inspiring story is made all the more powerful by Marchetto's cartoons. Lucky for us, Marchetto agreed to create a cartoon just for Amazon.com customers. Check out her strip below. --Daphne Durham

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Amazon.com Exclusive: A Cartoon from Marisa Acocella Marchetto

Meet Marisa, a self-described "shoe-crazy, lipstick-obsessed, wine-swilling, pasta-slurping, fashion-fanatic, single-forever, about-to-get-married big-city girl cartoonist with a fabulous life." Her graphic memoir, Cancer Vixen describes what happens when she finds a lump in her breast. Want to know what happens to an author when they discover their sales rank at Amazon.com? Read Marisa's exclusive strip below to find out.

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From Publishers Weekly

In 2004, cartoonist Marchetto, a hyperstylish "terminal bachelorette," was busy capturing "fabulista" humor, in the New Yorker and Glamour. She was engaged to a fabulous guy, perennially cool restaurateur Silvano Marchetto, whose personal style perfectly matched her Manhattan-centric life. If this were fiction, this is exactly when she'd stumble; unfortunately for her, life imitated art, and sure enough, she found a lump in her breast shortly before her wedding. Just as bad, she didn't have health insurance: her policy had lapsed shortly before the fateful mammogram. Cancer Vixen tells the story of what happens next, and how her inner circle— stylists, gossip columnists, shoe designers and assorted others you'd only find in New York City, rallies round to help her beat the disease and get married on time and in high style. Marchetto wears her best high heels to chemotherapy and remarks on the similarities between her hospital gown and Diane von Furstenberg designs. The fashion details are great fun, drawn in a spare loose style, but it's the heart of her story, the support and love she gets from her family and friends, that make Cancer Vixen a universal story that's hard to put down. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307263576
• ISBN-13: 978-0307263575
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #245,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Er, um... it was a delightful read?, November 29, 2006

By 

Susanne Koenig "mynewwritinglife.blogspot.com" (Memphis, TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cancer Vixen: A True Story (Hardcover)

Okay, I feel lousy saying that, but really, I couldn't put this book down. Which is odd, because I work in an (shall remain a-nonny-mus)bookstore and "Cancer Vixen" doesn't exactly say "read me."

Well, okay, maybe it does, in its own way, with its electrified purple cover (where do they keep the batteries to power that color?) and simplified drawings.

The cartoonist in question, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, was at the top of her game when a doctor noticed a lump in her breast. It couldn't have come at a worse time for Marchetto. She was engaged to a wonderful man and life was humming along pretty well in a profession that can be less than pretty. Then came The News. Cancer.

So instead of writing another book about breast cancer, Marchetto grabbed her pen and did what she does best: cartooning. The result is an honest, visually engaging and sometimes hilarious read. Beast Cancer doesn't say, "graphic novel", but here, it works, and quite well, too. The illustrations reflect the author's emotions with a great deal of clarity and are quite effective. And the backstory of how she met her fiance and the description of her multiple bffs, shopping habits, and work life are interesting as well. But most of all, I liked the honesty. That coupled with the little details of her everyday life were very gratifying, like a good healthy chat with one of your girlfriends who gives you all the details.

Even if you are not shopping for something about cancer, this is a very good read. And if you buy a copy of it with crumbs in it, that's just from the workers who read it during lunch. Consider it a compliment for the book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, June 7, 2007

By 

Love to Read (Roseville, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cancer Vixen: A True Story (Hardcover)

I love New Yorker cartoons. I hate comic books. I LOVED Cancer Vixen. I've been through a terrible illness and I have friends and family who have been through cancer, chemo, and radiation. This is an excellent story of one person's experience. It's the best literature I've ever read about the cancer/chemo experience because it shows what it's all about and how it effects the patient's life and family. I could really relate! I'm a writer, but no purely written story could have had the same impact and wisdom as this beatuiful, visual story. And the writing is witty and spot on too. Marisa is a brilliant cartoonist. She was actually very brave to tell her story as she did. I wish her happiness and health!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh this book is great!!!, November 4, 2006

By 

Dolores "psychworks" (NEW YORK, NEW YORK, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cancer Vixen: A True Story (Hardcover)

As a BC survivor, like many of you, I came to this book with a personal perspective. In fact, it turns out that I live in the same neighborhood as the author, but am about 15 yrs. older. I know this is a book about a "younger" "glam" cancer pt., but that's OK. What I liked best was that, when you have BC (or any serious illness) you've got to do whatever it takes to get thru, so a sense of humor, and a sense of art is fabulous. I admired the author's courage and panache while also reminiscing (not always the happiest thing) about my own treatment. This book is for readers with a sense of humor and a sense of the quirky, but I think that's just what BC deserves, not seriousness all the time. Good for you, Marchetto!!!