Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips [Paperback]

Kris Carr (Author), Sheryl Crow (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1599212315 | ISBN-13: 978-1599212319 | Edition: 1st

Actress and photographer Kris Carr thought she had a hangover, but a Jivamukti yoga class didn’t provide its usual kick-ass cure. A visit to her doctor confirmed her “liver looked like Swiss cheese,” covered with cancerous tumors. She entered trench warfare (wearing cowboy boots into the MRI machine, no less), vowing, “Cancer needed a makeover and I was just the gal to do it!” She began writing and filming her journey, documenting her interactions with friends, doctors, alternative “quacks,” blind dates, and other women with cancer—sadly a growing group. These include hip, young women such as illustrator-author Marisa Acocella Marchetto (Cancer Vixen), Glamour writer-editor Erin Zammett (My So-Called Normal Life), MTV personality Diem Brown (Real World/Road Rules Challenge), model Sharon Blynn (founder, Bald Is Beautiful), and music manager Jackie Farry, among others.

 

The Learning Channel broadcast the premiere of Carr’s unforgettable documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer on August 29, 2007.

CRAZY SEXY CANCER TIPS gathers the lessons learned and advice offered from Carr’s own journey, as well as the experiences of her cancer posse. Full-color photos accompany personal stories and candid revelations in this scrapbook of advice, warnings, and resources for the cancer patient. Chapters cover your changing social life, dating, sex, and appearance; essential health tips on how to boost your immune system; recipes; medical and holistic resources; and information on young survivor support groups. The resulting book is a warm, yet informative tool for any woman newly diagnosed with the disease and for those who love them.

 

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I read Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips cover to cover on a a flight from LA to NY. I laughed out loud, wept quietly, and most of all, marveled at the magic that is Kris Carr. If Deepak Chopra, What To Expect When You're Expecting, and Sex and the City had a love child, it would look just like Kris' Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips.  It is sheer perfection for cancer 'cowgirls' and their loved ones—colorful, soulful, and intimate."
—Rory Freedman, coauthor of #1 NY Times best seller Skinny Bitch

“Kris is a ray of light that is needed to raise awareness of what it means to give back. What more can one wish for? She is a true leader of courage and inspiration.”

—Donna Karan

 

 

“Kris Carr has done something extraordinary with this book: She has put cancer in its place. She has triumphed, and paved a path by which others can triumph too. She deserves our most heartfelt ‘Bravo.’”

—Marianne Williamson

Author of A Return to Love and Everyday Grace

 

 

When you have been there you know the experience and can help others survive their journey through the difficulties of life. Kris Carr's book is an excellent resource filled with tips on how to not only survive but thrive. If you have the inspiration, desire and intention to be a survivor the abundant information about life and living contained in this book will coach you in a way that will make you an empowered star performer and winner in the face of adversity.

 —Bernie Siegel, MD

Author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Help Me To Heal

 

 

“I love Kris’s book because it made me feel so many things. Familiar things. It made me laugh and reflect. And thank God she has the courage and generosity to share her experience. This book will be a comfort to so many who are going through the experience or who have graduated to survivor.”

—Sheryl Crow

From the Foreword

 

"Carr’s documentary, and her new book, Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips, may be the first girlfriend’s guide to living with cancer – a sign of the times really. More and more people are living with cancer, and Carr’s message is they can live full lives, they don’t have to be “defined” by the c-word." --Kelly Wallace, CBS News Correspondent

From the Back Cover

"I love Kris's book because it made me feel so many things. Familiar things. It made me laugh and reflect. And thank God she has the courage and generosity to share her experience. This book will be a comfort to so many who are going through the experience or who have graduated to survivor."

--Sheryl Crow
From the Foreword

"Kris is a ray of light that is needed to raise awareness of what it means to give back. What more can one wish for? She is a true leader of courage and inspiration."

--Donna Karan

"Kris Carr has done something extraordinary with this book: She has put cancer in its place. She has triumphed, and paved a path by which others can triumph too. She deserves our most heartfelt `Bravo.'"

--Marianne Williamson
Author of A Return to Love and Everyday Grace

When you have been there you know the experience and can help others survive their journey through the difficulties of life. Kris Carr's book is an excellent resource filled with tips on how to not only survive but thrive. If you have the inspiration, desire and intention to be a survivor the abundant information about life and living contained in this book will coach you in a way that will make you an empowered star performer and winner in the face of adversity.

--Bernie Siegel, MD
Author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Help Me To Heal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: skirt!; 1st edition (August 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599212315
• ISBN-13: 978-1599212319
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.6 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (82 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #10 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Mental Health > Dementia
  • #24 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Cancer
  • #48 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mental & Spiritual Healing

More About the Author

Kris Carr is a multi-week New York Times best-selling author, speaker and health advocate. She is the subject and director of the documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer, which aired on TLC and The Oprah Winfrey Network. Kris is also the author of the award-winning Crazy Sexy Cancer book series. Her latest books, Crazy Sexy Diet and Crazy Sexy Kitchen, will change the way you live, love and eat! Kris regularly lectures at hospitals, wellness centers, corporations such as Whole Foods, and Harvard University, and is a Contributing Editor for Natural Health Magazine. Some media appearances include: The New York Times, Scientific American, Glamour, Vanity Fair, Good Morning America, Today, The Early Show, CBS Evening News, Access Hollywood, The Doctors, The Gayle King Show, Super Soul Sunday and The Oprah Winfrey Show. As an irreverent foot soldier in the fight against disease, Kris inspires countless people to take charge of their health and happiness by adopting a plant-passionate diet, improving lifestyle practices, and learning to live and love like you really mean it. Her motto: Make juice not war!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

249 of 254 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars I can see good intentions, but misses the mark for me April 29, 2008

By qqqq

Format:Paperback

As a cancer survivor, I wanted to like this book. I love the idea of a "hip" survival/inspirational guide for women. I am so glad that Kris Carr has dealt so well with a devastating diagnosis. This points to a true strength of spirit. I think the author's heart is in the right place, but something went wrong here. I didn't find this book hip, or funny. It struck a bad chord for me. When I had cancer I too was 31. I didn't go through a decision-making process about whether to tell my esthetician about my illness. I wasn't worried about getting my bikini area waxed. I didn't go on a "cancervation" with my "posse", because I was working to pay my bills and keep my health insurance. I didn't attend retreats and trainings and buy hundreds of dollars of goods from Whole Foods on shopping trips and make a documentary about myself. People deal with trauma and heal in different ways, and spending freely seems to have been beneficial to Kriss Carr's personal journey. Each woman featured in this book talks about her height and weight, and Kris Carr makes numerous references to her own weight and desire to weigh less. It seems the opposite of "empowering", and perhaps a bit disingenuous, for a woman who looks (at least in her photos) radiantly healthy, beautiful, stylish, and very thin to keep making references to desire for weighing less. I'd find it inspirational to hear things along the lines of "I used to worry about my weight before cancer, but since I've changed my diet and lifestyle, my body has changed and I'm very happy with it, I feel very comfortable in my own skin now" (or something like that). When I had cancer, I was more concerned with getting well than stepping on the scale. I'm well and healthy, now, my looks are something I pay attention to but emphasizing it in a book focused on cancer seems wrong. I can't pretend to know what it's like to have the disease that Kris Carr is living with. She seems to be doing something right - a lot of somethings. I respect this tremendously. I'd love to hear more about diet and exercise, more on inner process, less about numbers on the scale and appearance and the things that money can buy. Maybe focusing on this is meant to distract the mind, and I've missed the point!

153 of 171 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Ambivalent. November 9, 2007

By A. Wilson

Format:Paperback

I was diagnosed with cancer two years ago at the age of 32 and at the time I certainly yearned for cancer guidebooks and first-person narratives that reflected my experience as a "young" person with cancer. But I'm not sure if this book would have helped me. Page after glossy page, it makes cancer seem like more fun than it really is. Crazy sexy beautiful cancer babes? I'm all for empowerment, but cancer treatment makes you feel like utter garbage. I can imagine coming home from a chemo-vomit-fest at the hospital to open up a book filled with beautiful, thin, made-up, well-coiffed women (who, of course, have dashing, heroic boyfriends and husbands who always make them feel better) -- only to feel that I don't measure up. What, now I have to feel sassy and sexy when I'm being poisoned by intravenous drugs? How about a book for the rest of us, with our imperfect bodies and hairdos and our romantic partnerships with fallible human beings who don't always save the day? I appreciate the spirit of the project, but the book would have been improved with some glossy photos of these beautiful women looking and feeling like death warmed over. It's great to have your spirits lifted, and to be reminded that you're still "crazy and sexy" even though you have cancer -- it's great to refuse to be defined entirely by the disease. But let's not pretend that cancer isn't terrifying and devastating and painful and isolating, and that sometimes you just WON'T feel good. Cancer is a grim, ugly thing. Let's not paper over that with fancy makeup and pink ribbons. A truly empowering book would embrace the ugly AND the beautiful sides of the experience. I think the author had the right spirit; I think the publishing company's marketing department just got the best of her.

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!! August 2, 2007

By Gail E. Peeler

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a recent Breast Cancer survivor, I can tell you that this book was my favorite "cancer" book. Like everyone who is diagnosed with cancer, I spent hours researching on the internet, and reading various "what to expect" books. After all that, I cannot tell you what a pleasure it was to read CrazySexyCancer!

As a cancer survivor, you realize while reading this book that "Oh Yeah, I have been in that exact situation" many times. Maybe, at the time, you didn't see the humor in it, but reading Kris's book you will now! Kris offers sound and practical advice from talking to your Doctor and nurse, playing the cancer card, working on your attitude, dressing up, and eating correctly. Her style is humorous and irreverent, but with a deep understanding from someone who has looked at the abyss and said, "OK, let's jump!" I especially liked the stickies, or post-it notes, throughout the book, making you feel like you really are communicating directly with the author. My all time favorite stickie is the one we can all relate to, "Why Me?"

My only criticism of this book is that it is targeted to an audience of young women. As a 54 year old breast cancer survivor, I loved reading this book and I know that women of all ages would enjoy it. Now, women my age will skip over the "Fertile Hope" section, but will still find plenty to read that applies to them. I have already bought several copies to give to friends, and to put in the Cancer Wellness Center in my area. This book is "must have" for the bookshelves of any Cancer Center. All women, whether they have had cancer or not, should thank Kris Carr for writing this book. She gives us a reason to laugh, while at the same time gives us valuable information and tips about how to cope with cancer and/or the curves that life throws you! I loved this book, and in awe of Kris' strength as she faces her life with cancer.