Amazon.com Review
Robert Lipsyte had it all: a happy marriage, two healthy children, a successful career as a big-city journalist. He also had the first signs of testicular cancer, diagnosed with the disease at age 40. So begins Lipsyte's memoir of living with cancer--and almost dying of it on several occasions. Lipsyte names this strange land of cancer, doctors, and hospitals "Malady." It is a place outside the realm of everyday existence, which Lipsyte first experienced "on a deluxe package tour"; he wouldn't check out of Malady for three weeks. This isn't a philosophical book. Lipsyte doesn't ask "Why me?" It is instead a book of learning to live with cancer and facing mortality. Lipsyte, someone who has not only lived with cancer himself but watched as cancer consumed his beloved ex-wife (the disease took its toll on his marriage as well as his health), offers solid, sensible advice.
Into the Country of Illness is an unconventional read, juxtaposing cancer and humor, or, more appropriately, what Lipsyte terms "tumor humor." Although this is an uncomfortable concept, Lipsyte regards humor as a "chemotherapy for the spirit," necessary to deal with the awfulness of this horrible disease. This is an enlightening book on the darkest of subjects.
From Publishers Weekly
Anyone who will ever have to negotiate the minefields of today's medical system while suffering from a serious illness or caring for a loved one will greatly welcome this outstanding guide to what the author calls the country of "Malady." Lipsyte, a prize-winning author (The Contender) and New York Times columnist, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1978. He presents here what he learned from that episode, and a later recurrence that helped him function within the world of illness. When his wife, Margie, who'd been his support during surgery and subsequent chemotherapy, developed breast cancer, he reentered Malady as her caregiver. Lipsyte provides highly useful material on how to elicit necessary information from physicians and nurses, ways to maximize hospital care and tips for coping with a managed care system that, according to the author, does not serve patient needs. Although the Lipsytes eventually divorced, the author remained close to his ex-wife during her long battle with terminal cancer, and his exquisitely written description of this period is deeply moving.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
