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Miriam Engelberg

Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person: A Memoir in Comics Paperback – Illustrated, April 25, 2006

by Miriam Engelberg (Author)

76 ratings

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Print length

126 pages
Language

English
Publication date

April 25, 2006
Dimensions

8.26 x 7.04 x 0.42 inches
ISBN-10

0060789735
ISBN-13

978-0060789732
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Stricken with breast cancer at a disturbingly young age (43), Engelberg turned to cartooning to cope; the resulting work is both powerful and very funny. She starts at the very beginning, while awaiting her diagnosis. The story follows the cancer trail all the way through surgery, chemo, support groups, wigs, the distraction of cartooning, moving house while completely nauseated and the horror of a second diagnosis. In contrast to the heavy subject matter, Engelberg's artwork is naïve to the extreme, though it has some charm. The true strength of the book is its fusion of the deadly serious with the absurd, in the finest tradition of black humor. Engelberg's narrative is riveting. She traces the trajectory of both her diagnosis and her growing obsession with the crossword puzzle in the newspaper's TV guide—"must...avoid...inner...thought... processes," she announces. The reader discovers the author's difficulties in appreciating life's special moments, and witnesses the many compliments she receives on her post-chemo wig. We follow the way the medical profession communicates, the things people say when they don't know what to say and the utter incomprehensibility of not knowing if you're documenting your own slow death. It's extremely honest and extraordinarily powerful. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Engelberg was 43 and the mother of a 4-year-old when diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy in quick succession, and the cancer later metastasized to the brain. She lost her hair, experienced the seeming paradox of gaining weight on account of treatment, lost interest in sex, joined support groups in which she made new friends, and obsessed about what she might have done to bring on her illness or avoid it. She decided early on to make comics out of her travails, and if they are pretty rudimentary, they are very focused. Each one- to six-page helping of them centers tightly on a topic, incident, or such bits of fancy as an imaginary "Cancer Channel" and an infomercial for metastasis. Engelberg's daft sense of humor, never mean, gross, or flippant, serves readers, perhaps especially fellow cancer patients, as well as, maybe better than, it does her. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Illustrated edition (April 25, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 126 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0060789735
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0060789732
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 7.04 x 0.42 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #365,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #51 in Lung Cancer (Books)
- #81 in Nutrition for Cancer Prevention
- #86 in Prostate Disease (Books)

Customer Reviews:
76 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		82%
4 star		9%
3 star		3%
2 star		4%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

Superb! Accurately captures the God-awful cancer experience with warmth and humor.

Reviewed in the United States on January 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

I'm a six-year cancer survivor, but during the year of treatment, I wasn't sure whether I actually wanted to survive or not. This brilliant book captures the essence that experience. To this day I am revolted by the (totally false!) alleged unicorns-and-rainbows version of cancer survivorship, where you supposedly end up skipping through tulips with a grandiose and serene insight into the universe. No. It is not like that at all. I am still just plain hacked off by that whole ghastly year, which this insightful author pins down with accuracy and ironic humor. I wish I had had this book while I was going through all that. I note that the author has sadly passed away; but she has left a very kind, darkly amusing and extremely helpful legacy with this book.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Boris Chang

Wonderfully thought-provoking (and laugh-provoking at times)

Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2006

Verified Purchase

One might no longer feel as though on an island of despair after reading this comic-format book. Many of the issues and concerns and the self-blame for why one has gotten cancer - as well as how various people react to cancer within themselves, or among their friends, relatives, co-workers and strangers - are addressed in a thought-provoking manner that at times makes you laugh, but most of all, makes you realize that you are not alone. This is not a book covering all the latest treatment options, how to deal with the therapies and so forth. It is a charming and witty and yet soberingly realistic look at life with cancer. And it also a wonderful comic-relief from some of the (often times quite frightening) issues and concerns of having cancer. It also helps one to realize that many others in the same boat are having the same feelings.

I thought that some of the pertinent things covered in the book are:

- blaming yourself for having eaten the wrong things or having lived the wrong lifestyle - eating all that cheese, or greasy junk food full of preservatives, or drinking all that diet soda, or talking too much on the cell phone.

- how people with different forms of cancer sometimes have trouble relating to each other and how people with the same forms of cancer tend to form cliques for this reason.

- the notion of being a cancer survivor: when does it begin (upon diagnosis?) and when does it end (are you still a survivor in your deathbed, drawing your last few gasps of air?)

If you have recently been diagnosed with cancer, or are fighting it, or know someone near and dear who is going through it - READ THIS BOOK. Add it to the list of how-to's and serious medical books. It will help you understand how the human psyche responds to this form of crisis just a little better.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bill Curry

A darkly humorous book of how one woman chose to fit cancer into her life and soul

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2016

Verified Purchase

For those of us with cancer, this is an engaging book that debunks the notion that the superior way to deal with cancer is to become, say, a tour de France champion or a marathon runner. Engelberg's comic strips flout this notion as she explores her emotions after her diagnosis of breast cancer, especially her piercing wit that a cancer diagnosis divides the world into two types of people: those without cancer and those of us with cancer. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way to deal with cancer, only the way that works for you. This is a darkly humorous book of how one woman chose to fit cancer into her life and soul.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Lenny C. Husen

Buy this today for yourself and an extra copy to give as a gift

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2018

Verified Purchase

I literally have bought at least 10 copies of this book to give as gifts for women with breast cancer and I have donated it to hospitals for the Resilience Book Shelf in the Physicians' Lounge.
I LOVE the drawings and laugh out loud humor.
The only thing that would have made this book better would have been a sequel if the Cancer had not killed this beautiful, intelligent young person.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

charlene at Dosido Bookshelf

You'll love this author!

Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2010

Verified Purchase

People look at me strangely when I say how much I love this book. Miriam Engelberg left us a wonderful gift in tracing with such realism and wit her day-by-day experience of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. It is unbelievable that cancer proved stronger than this vivacious and funny, not to mention beautiful woman. How is it possible that her memoir makes me laugh out loud and to the point of tears on nearly every page? I guess her book is not for everyone, but if you like (maybe) dark humor, you'll love this book, and you'll love this author!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Regina Bahten

Real life is not for the faint of heart.

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2012

Verified Purchase

I was diagnosed with breast cancer six months ago, and just finished chemo after a double mastectomy. Being a physician, I had thought I would be at least somewhat prepared for the experience, but that was not the case. Thank God I picked up this book. Miriam's experience was so similar to mine that I felt she had read my mind. What a relief to find my weirdest thoughts (too weird to share with other doctors) framed up with both sarcasm and warmth, which made the whole experience much less scary. As it turns out, I'm not the only one with the experience of Everything is My Enemy, or hearing the bizarre ways in which people try to protect themselves from my diagnosis (cancer can't possibly strike just out of the blue, can it?). I will be buying more copies of the book for my friends, both patients and doctors. I would just repeat the warning that the ending is sad.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Paperback writer

A must for the newly diagnosed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Excellent book. Recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and to read a book like this which is truthful, funny and informative is rare. Recommend to anyone in the same situation.

JBear

Best book on Cancer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2014

Verified Purchase

Funny and clear-sighted about cancer and its effects on one's life. She reflected what I have felt this last year. Not a medical book but not a trivial one.

One person found this helpful

Laugh with cancer

Reviewed in Canada on January 17, 2016

Verified Purchase

Adds humour to a serious subject.....excellent resource

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