Customer Reviews

Mom's Marijuana: Insights About Living

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you know someone that is or has suffered through cancer treatment, you owe it to yourself to read this well-written first-hand autobographical portrayal of Dan's personal story. Even if you don't know someone that has gone through the experience, this book is a must read.

At times I laughed out loud at Dan's Woody Allen-like wit, other times I found myself in a dazed stupor wondering how anyone could go through what he went through. His characterizations are heart-warming, his attention to detail is splendid, I am amazed at how vividly he was able to tell his story.

Mom's Marijuana is a fast read with many short chapters (similar to the many Chicken Soup books). However, all of these short chapters weave an intricate trail in chronological order (for the most part) from Dan's breif discussions of his youth through the finer details of cancer treatment.

This book educated and inspired me. It also raised my understanding of a terrible disease to new heights. Do yourself a favor, stop reading this review and just buy the darned book. You will not regret it. You da money man, Dan.

I picked this book up in the biography section of my library.
I was about to have my knee operated on and wondered if I could find a good book to read during the days in bed not moving. Well, I was moved by this book.
It is one of the best books I have ever read.
You almost feel like you know Dan through his setbacks and triumphs.
You'll laugh. You'll cry. You will fall in love with this wonderful book.

You might think that the title of my review refers to this man's life changing experience, but in fact I'm speaking of the life changing experience that has been reading this book. Dan Shapiro truly is a brilliant man and he wrote a complex, insightful book. I think the title is misleading, but the story more than makes up for it. It's almost as if the book is interactive; it makes you think back about many things, and can be very humorous at times. When he said he knew his daughter wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for his mother's talking to a stranger, it took me a while to realize he was talking about the woman in that first waiting room telling his mother to save sperm. I like that, that way that Daniel Shapiro has about writing this book. It was one of my favorite books, if not my favorite book, that I have ever read, and I would absolutely love to see a sequel of some sort. (This is the kind of book that once you're finished reading you feel like you've known the author all your life and you wish to meet him.)

A book in which a guy narrates the various stages of his harrowing medical ordeal shouldn't be this entertaining. I started reading and found I didn't want to stop. It's warm, amusing, wise, playful and filled with laugh out loud moments -- without a trace of bathos or self pity. This is not a book I would have chosen on my own. I received it as a gift. Now that I have read it, I would recommend it highly to anyone.

I hid the title cover from my young children but the book was never more than an arm's length away until I finished every last page--even the acknowledgements! Dan's poignant and personal story put a powerful face on a dreadful illness. I loved the essay that was an ode to his dad's music. Throughout the book there are just gorgeous snapshots at life. A captivating and humorous read and I highly recommend it.

Dr. Shapiro's "Mom's Marijuana" captured the essence of what it is to be a regular college kid -- with cancer. His real, unpretentious and funny style made me feel like I went on his journey with him. The fluid writing and captivating essays in this collection kept me spell-bound...i couldn't wait to meet the rest of his world...

When Dan Shapiro was 21 he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that automatically changed his life and left him with the typical battles of chemotherapy, surgery and all its side effects. Yet being the son of delightful, highly energetic and incredibly optimistic parents helped him battle the odds and exceed the life expectations the doctors set for him. The title of the book comes from his mother actually growing marijuana to help with the anorexia and nausea that his chemo sessions left him with. Though not a drug advocate, mom is an expert gardner and grows bushes of cannibus that would make any drug user happy for the rest of his life. His parents help is always to the extreme and its hilarious the measures they take to ensure that their son's cancer not take over his life.
The other wonderful part of this story is just the progression that he makes with each chapter- finding love, graduating medical school, buying a house, and of course beating the disease. Shapiro is warm, compassionate, yet downright hilarious. I couldn't help but read outloud some of the passages to my boyfriend such as when his parents decide he should donate his sperm, or when his mom tells his new girlfriend that they have pot drying in their attic. This book is just wonderful. You will have no problem enjoying it.

My 19 year old son is going through cancer treatment, and by chance a friend loaned me this book. It is a wonderful reference for anyone who has a young relative going through cancer treatment.

A must read if you've ever known anyone diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease.

Helped me understand what my own son was enduring.

This book is based on a rather controversial issue and deals with the use of marijauna for theraputic reasons. Diagnosed with cancer at the age of 20, and returning to live with his parents, Dan Shapiro learns that marijauna may elliviate some of his pain and anguish from the disease. His mother, an anti-drug person, is first appalled at his mere suggestion of using the drug; however, she eventually plants the seeds in her garden, carefully hidden behind the sunflowers. This is Dan's story of living with cancer and his will to survive. Undergoing biopsies and radiation treatment only Dan or other cancer survivors sould possibly understand the pain and torment that this disease inflicts, both physically and emotionally. There are pieces of the book that are sometimes, vague, and others that would have best been presented in more detail, but it is still a book worth reading

Whether you believe in the use of marijuana for this purpose or not, you will admire the sincerity, wit and compassion contained in this book. There is that old saying that goes, "Do not judge others until you have walked in their shoes." Unless you have walked in Dan's shoes or the shoes of other cancer survivors, and lived with their pain, how can anyone even begin to judge what is right for that person or what is not." Only the afflicted individual truly knows, feels and understands the extent of the pain. In "Mom's Marijuana," Dan's mother planted not only the seeds of the marijuana plant, she planted the seeds of ultimate love and compassion for her suffering son.