Reconstructing Aphrodite [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Terry Lorant (Photographer), Loren Eskenazi (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Each woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer is faced with her worst fears and a sense of hopelessness that pervades her every waking moment. Often, her anguish comes from the belief that she will no longer be attractive, or look or feel normal again. This brave and honest, groundbreaking book offers an answer to the confusion that arises from this diagnosis.

An astonishingly beautiful, life-affirming and hopeful book, Reconstructing Aphrodite tells the stories of twenty-one women -- all of whom, facing breast cancer and mastectomy, chose simultaneous reconstruction. Through intimate first-person narrative, wedded to startlingly frank and revealing photographs, the women exude courage and confidence in the face of life-threatening disease. The stories these women tell will serve as the inspiration and solace for countless others whose lives are touched by this tragic illness.

In her moving photographs, Terry Lorant has captured the spirit of beauty and wholeness each of these women possesses. Working in concert with Dr. Loren Eskenazi, one of the foremost breast reconstruction surgeons, Reconstructing Aphrodite is a unique combination of photographic and surgical artistry and the courageous stories of women whose lives have been transformed.

The book was born out of the realization that combining reconstruction with the tragedy of mastectomy would all but eliminate the psychological trauma of breast cancer surgery. Dr. Eskenazi and her surgical partner and team have perfected the surgical techniques for these parallel operations.

Reconstructing Aphrodite also contains detailed information about breast reconstruction, and resources to guide you, your mother, sister, wife or friend through the maze of medical decisions that must be made if one’s life has been touched by breast cancer.

The women portrayed in Reconstructing Aphrodite have offered their most intimate stories as a gift so that no woman will ever have to face this illness alone.

About the Author
Terry Lorant is a photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Loren Eskenazi is a nationally known plastic surgeon and an artist who lives in Sausalito, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Syracuse University Press; illustrated edition edition (November 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966035232
• ISBN-13: 978-0966035230
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #449,865 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt Reactions, April 14, 2002

By	Roberta (California) - See all my reviews

I received this beautiful book as a gift, and was affected by it on many levels, in many ways. The photos and the stories told by these women are about shock, fear, intense questioning, bravery, and the profound desire to live a full life. I looked through and saw for the first time women with radical changes to their bodies, surgeries that had saved their lives and restored their peace of mind. I had never seen what reconstructive surgery could do (aside from those picture perfect breasts implants of the young and famous). I was seeing for the first time women whose breasts clearly showed the work of a skilled surgeon, whose scars were still there, of course, but were testimony to the fears and concerns these women had to deal with when they discovered their bodies had become diseased, their lives at risk and in question. Each of the photos is a portrait of solemnity, joy, pride in the beauty of these new and healthy breasts. Each story seems to say, I've chosen to live a full and healthy life, and the beauty of my body bears the marks of that tremendous decision.

"Reconstructing Ahprodite" is about living fully.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartfelt and inspiring, October 7, 2002

By	"nbeckus" (Danville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

You might think that because you haven't had breast cancer, or because you're a man, that you have nothing to learn from the aptly named book Reconstructing Aphrodite. But you'd be wrong.

This collection of photographs and stories of women who've had reconstructive breast surgery following diagnoses of cancer is mesmerizing and inspiring. Each woman tells her own story, sensitively edited by Helga Hayse, revealing her fears, apprehension, decisiveness, and courage. Each story resonates with everyone who encounters this book.

The stories they tell-of genetic testing, of tumors missed in mammograms, of watching mothers and aunts die painful deaths-speak to all of us. They are funny and brave, practical and spiritual. These are mothers and daughters and sisters, young and old, and they are all the women we know. They are sharing a life-shattering experience with us and to read their words is to be a witness to their strength.

And as much as the stories move us, the photographs shock and amaze. The photographs, from photographer Terry Lorant, feel like personal notes from each woman to the reader. As if she were a friend, sending you her proud news. The pictures are sweet and sexy and honest and very emotional.

I read this entire book, including the detailed information about breast reconstruction at the end. Because, though I don't have breast cancer now, that doesn't mean my sisters or I won't be diagnosed in the future and I'd like to have both the practical resource information that this book provides and the inspiration of these amazing women.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcendent beauty, July 3, 2003

By	Dr. M. Husby Scheelar (Calgary, AB, Canada) - See all my reviews

As a woman who has had breast cancer and is looking at bilateral reconstruction, I found "Reconstructing Aphrodite" to be a book of hope, life, and beauty. The beauty is not in reconstruction without scars but is in the very scars themselves, scars that speak of courage, determination and, above all else, the choice to live life to the fullest. The reflections accompanying each photo communicate the pain of living with cancer. But the stories do not stop with pain; they continue with love, laughter, celebration, joy and delight in bodies that have more to say now than when they were flawless. A truly exquisite book in all ways, one that I will share with many other women because it is so real. The scars are not airbrushed; the pain is not denied. I came away from this book uplifted and encouraged by the lived experience of my sisters on the journey with breast cancer. Forget "Playboy"; the women who have lasting beauty are the ones in this book.