earlyandalone's review against another edition
5.0
Pandora's DNA is both an incredibly personal story and a medical history. Stark opens with the "family curse"--her mother's side of the family's battle against breast cancer. As she recounts generations of her family succumbing to this devastating disease, Stark also chronicles the advances in medical screening and surgery, from the draconian Halsted mastectomies to contemporary one-step mastectomy and reconstruction.
Though reading about these procedures and the traumatic effects is daunting, Stark's narration is deft and even-handed. She renders complicated genetics and lawsuits understandable to those of us lucky enough to be unfamiliar with the disease and the mutation of the BRCA gene, a mutation Stark learns she's inherited from her mother, who herself battled breast cancer when Stark was only an infant. She is forced to make a harrowing choice--live in constant fear in the shadow of breast cancer with regular invasive screenings, or suffer a double mastectomy, cutting off her healthy breasts in order to stave off the risk of early death. She chooses the latter, and leads us through each step of the way with grace and humor and honesty.
This book is informative, poignant, and telling--a must-read for any woman who's struggled or wondered about the specter of breast cancer.
Though reading about these procedures and the traumatic effects is daunting, Stark's narration is deft and even-handed. She renders complicated genetics and lawsuits understandable to those of us lucky enough to be unfamiliar with the disease and the mutation of the BRCA gene, a mutation Stark learns she's inherited from her mother, who herself battled breast cancer when Stark was only an infant. She is forced to make a harrowing choice--live in constant fear in the shadow of breast cancer with regular invasive screenings, or suffer a double mastectomy, cutting off her healthy breasts in order to stave off the risk of early death. She chooses the latter, and leads us through each step of the way with grace and humor and honesty.
This book is informative, poignant, and telling--a must-read for any woman who's struggled or wondered about the specter of breast cancer.
taibreakfast's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Picked this up because I really enjoyed her book on eggs, where she mentions briefly her journey with removing her ovaries. I had noticed she didn't talk about that as much as one might expect, and it makes sense...she essentially already wrote a whole book about it (but about breasts, she hadn't removed her ovaries yet when she wrote this almost 10 years earlier). As well as with the egg book, I enjoyed this writing style that is part journalism and historical research, part cultural criticism, and part memoir. She is able to explain science in very accessible and engaging ways. She writes about herself while situating her story among other people's stories and among a broader context. The misogynistic history of medicine can be hard to read at times, but taking breaks helped!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Cancer, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Body horror, and Medical content
Moderate: Grief, Death, and Chronic illness
Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy
emgusk's review against another edition
4.0
I met the author of this book at a reading at my local bookstore, Politics & Prose, which might have some bearing on my review. As does my genetic status.
I am a BRCA1 gene mutation carrier, just like the author (Lizzie). And many women (and men) are survivors of breast cancer or were killed by breast cancer, just like the author's family.
The book is written as a combination of the history of cancer science and research, the history of her own family and the author's personal experiences with her mother's breast cancer and finding out that she was a BRCA1 carrier. I found the history fascinating (and now want to read The Emperor of All Maladies even more, despite already seeing the excellent PBS miniseries, which I recommend). I also related to the overriding history of seemingly everyone in your family being struck with breast cancer.
What I didn't relate to as much was Lizzie's experience with her BRCA1 diagnosis. Maybe I'm a cockeyed optimist, but I don't live in fear of a cancer diagnosis every moment. The author and I are very similar -- we are even around the same age, which I think is extremely valuable, since there are not a lot of childless people in their 30s writing about their BRCA experiences. But I just don't find the monitoring to be as onerous as the author. But to each her own, and I did really learn from her experiences.
As she writes, we have come a long way in cancer treatment and diagnosis and I am hopeful there will be even more to learn in the coming years. Maybe I am making the wrong decision by not getting a preventative mastectomy, but I am confident that the more I learn and read, the more informed decision I will make and the more educated I will be on the subject. I folded down quite a few pages of the book to revisit and research more and Lizzie's experiences give me a lot to think about and consider.
Thanks for writing this book, Lizzie! Glad to have someone like you in my corner.
I am a BRCA1 gene mutation carrier, just like the author (Lizzie). And many women (and men) are survivors of breast cancer or were killed by breast cancer, just like the author's family.
The book is written as a combination of the history of cancer science and research, the history of her own family and the author's personal experiences with her mother's breast cancer and finding out that she was a BRCA1 carrier. I found the history fascinating (and now want to read The Emperor of All Maladies even more, despite already seeing the excellent PBS miniseries, which I recommend). I also related to the overriding history of seemingly everyone in your family being struck with breast cancer.
What I didn't relate to as much was Lizzie's experience with her BRCA1 diagnosis. Maybe I'm a cockeyed optimist, but I don't live in fear of a cancer diagnosis every moment. The author and I are very similar -- we are even around the same age, which I think is extremely valuable, since there are not a lot of childless people in their 30s writing about their BRCA experiences. But I just don't find the monitoring to be as onerous as the author. But to each her own, and I did really learn from her experiences.
As she writes, we have come a long way in cancer treatment and diagnosis and I am hopeful there will be even more to learn in the coming years. Maybe I am making the wrong decision by not getting a preventative mastectomy, but I am confident that the more I learn and read, the more informed decision I will make and the more educated I will be on the subject. I folded down quite a few pages of the book to revisit and research more and Lizzie's experiences give me a lot to think about and consider.
Thanks for writing this book, Lizzie! Glad to have someone like you in my corner.
trixie_reads's review against another edition
4.0
I liked the book, though it definitely resonated with me for personal reasons. I'm BRCA1+, and have lost my mother (when I was four), grandmother (when my mother was two), and cousin (last year when she was 50) to breast cancer. My grandfather and uncle died of cancer. My uncle died in his thirties from cancer, and my brother had cancer 18 months ago, at age 47. So yes, it's personal for me, and I'm not sure someone without BRCA in their family would find it as absorbing. Maybe yes though -- I liked the Henrietta Lacks book.
I found myself nodding during several points in the book, and the author definitely captured some of the collective family fear, feeling of inevitability of getting cancer, and relief that there is something (no matter how awful) that can be done to prevent it.
I found myself nodding during several points in the book, and the author definitely captured some of the collective family fear, feeling of inevitability of getting cancer, and relief that there is something (no matter how awful) that can be done to prevent it.
voya_k's review against another edition
5.0
Well-researched, moving book about one lady's family history of BRCA and her own decision to have a preventative mastectomy at a young age. This particular lady is a talented journalist and writer, so she puts her own story in historical context with plenty of fascinating info about cultural perceptions of breast cancer, plastic surgery and women's health.
Useful for anybody dealing with their own BRCA situation or anybody interested in really good health and science writing with a friendly, hip tone.
Useful for anybody dealing with their own BRCA situation or anybody interested in really good health and science writing with a friendly, hip tone.
alyssa_reads_it_all's review against another edition
4.0
*I received this book for free. I am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions expressed here are my own.*
There’s so much that the average person doesn’t know about breast cancer. I received a copy of this book just days after taking my own BRCA test, a test I didn’t know existed until my doctor told me that my family history of breast cancer could be linked to specific gene mutations.
The women in Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Sciences, and One Family Tree face a difficult choice: remove their breasts, or battle the cancer that had taken the lives of so many of their female relatives? Stark explores this dilemma in both her own experience and in her family’s history in an attempt to uncover what it means to have a BRCA mutation. Pandora’s DNA does a great job at balancing memoir and science in order to educate us more about a disease that people don’t seem to know very much about, despite the numbers of people it claims each year.
While some parts of the book might come across as overly-dramatic in places, you have to admire Stark’s honesty and her ability to make readers empathize. I recommend this to anyone who’d like a more in-depth look at breast cancer and the role it plays in some families.
There’s so much that the average person doesn’t know about breast cancer. I received a copy of this book just days after taking my own BRCA test, a test I didn’t know existed until my doctor told me that my family history of breast cancer could be linked to specific gene mutations.
The women in Pandora’s DNA: Tracing the Breast Cancer Genes Through History, Sciences, and One Family Tree face a difficult choice: remove their breasts, or battle the cancer that had taken the lives of so many of their female relatives? Stark explores this dilemma in both her own experience and in her family’s history in an attempt to uncover what it means to have a BRCA mutation. Pandora’s DNA does a great job at balancing memoir and science in order to educate us more about a disease that people don’t seem to know very much about, despite the numbers of people it claims each year.
While some parts of the book might come across as overly-dramatic in places, you have to admire Stark’s honesty and her ability to make readers empathize. I recommend this to anyone who’d like a more in-depth look at breast cancer and the role it plays in some families.
carolikesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Originally posted at: A Girl that Likes Books
I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. The book is expected to published on October 15.
First impressions
I wanted to read this book mostly because a couple of years ago my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and so I wanted to have more information about. This book reminded me of what I was expecting to get when I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, except that in this case it would be tinged with personal experience.
Final thoughts
It can be difficult to let other people help you, to let the people who love you see you weak and in need of support
When I read nonfiction it is very important for me to have my expectations clear. In this case I was expecting a self perspective of what it means to carry a gene that increases your chances of developing breast cancer, with a bit of info about the research on the subject. And I am happy because that is what I get.
This is not a book just about the history of cancer, not even breast cancer, it is the story of Lizzie Stark and how a mutation affected her whole life and her whole family. Often people will think that this type of malady only affects the women in the family, and while most of time it will only be the women who develop a tumor, this doesn't mean that it doesn't take a toll on the men around them.
I found Stark's voice very touching and honest. She had no problem sharing the fact that she was scared, angry and how her decisions were affecting her personal life. She made wonder of all the things my aunt felt like she couldn't share in order to "protect" us and it made me see her in a whole different light. I her case, it was unrelated to a genetic mutation, but she also had to deal with treatments and the possibility of losing her breasts.
When a book like this manages to make you walk in the author's shoes I call that a success
I asked and received this book through NetGalley for free. This review is not sponsored nor influenced in anyway. The book is expected to published on October 15.
First impressions
I wanted to read this book mostly because a couple of years ago my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and so I wanted to have more information about. This book reminded me of what I was expecting to get when I read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, except that in this case it would be tinged with personal experience.
Final thoughts
It can be difficult to let other people help you, to let the people who love you see you weak and in need of support
When I read nonfiction it is very important for me to have my expectations clear. In this case I was expecting a self perspective of what it means to carry a gene that increases your chances of developing breast cancer, with a bit of info about the research on the subject. And I am happy because that is what I get.
This is not a book just about the history of cancer, not even breast cancer, it is the story of Lizzie Stark and how a mutation affected her whole life and her whole family. Often people will think that this type of malady only affects the women in the family, and while most of time it will only be the women who develop a tumor, this doesn't mean that it doesn't take a toll on the men around them.
I found Stark's voice very touching and honest. She had no problem sharing the fact that she was scared, angry and how her decisions were affecting her personal life. She made wonder of all the things my aunt felt like she couldn't share in order to "protect" us and it made me see her in a whole different light. I her case, it was unrelated to a genetic mutation, but she also had to deal with treatments and the possibility of losing her breasts.
When a book like this manages to make you walk in the author's shoes I call that a success
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