yeahohyeahyeah's review against another edition
4.0
This book was beautiful, the drawing was simplistic and stunning. It added a cute quality to a scary book, and added to the concern for the characters.
It was wonderful to read, scary, haunting, tragic, uplifting, enlightening. A great one sitting book. A good sense of accomplishment.
It was wonderful to read, scary, haunting, tragic, uplifting, enlightening. A great one sitting book. A good sense of accomplishment.
melissa_h's review against another edition
4.0
A personal glimpse into his family's life with cancer. 4 stars because I found it a big draggy at some points, but overall very good.
chelseamartinez's review against another edition
4.0
I read this after "Can't we Talk About Something More Pleasant?" and they couldn't be more different in tone despite both being about caring for elderly parents. This was collected from a serial comic and was written as it was happening rather than in retrospect, but also differs in so many ways from the other work (only child versus one of three who is least connected to the process), background of the author (artist versus chemist/physicist/science writer/artist), relationship to the parent(s) (complicated and lopsided versus doesn't really go into it, I wanted to know so much more about the mom, especially to motivate the end of the book). I think because I read this second, I wanted so much more (and because in the front matter the author writes that they wanted to do this project to educate people... I expected more detail? But appreciated the parts about working with doctors from different types of hospitals, and the observation that when you have a disease that you don't understand, but doctors do, it can be really hard to be told to "call about anything important" and then be chastized for not knowing what's important). Still, I'd recommend it for people looking ahead to caring for parents in the future.
mick's review against another edition
4.0
Really well done, though I understand what some of the other reviewers have said about how some of it was less emotional than they expected. Some of it was quite emotional, but some of it was a bit detached. Still an amazing read and incredible illustrations.
mrsthrift's review against another edition
4.0
This started as a web comic of the story of the author's mother cancer. After 45 years of smoking, Mom developed lung cancer which moved into her brain and formed a tumor. The story starts with her initial diagnosis, and follows the author & his two sisters through the chemo, radiation, hope and anxiety of the ugly face of cancer. The drawing style is clear and accessible. The story is well-paced and doesn't get bogged in overly sentimental meandering. The grief and pain are so obvious that the author doesn't need to dramatize it, and for that I was grateful. And still, I wept while I read it.
One of the fucked-up things about cancer is the balancing of hope, optimism & bravado on one side, and the hopelessness, helplessness and terror on the other. In one scene, the author draws his mother as a tightrope walker. On one side of her balancing pole, there is a vulture. The other side of the pole has an elephant. The tightrope stretches over a pool filled with crocodiles. And then she realizes the rope is on fire. I mean, basically. Yeah. Fuck Cancer. Thank you, Brian Fies, for drawing that.
There is another moment when Mom breaks down (the 5% scene) that wrung my heart. It really drove home how fragile her strength was, and how much of your ability to fight exists in your belief that you can/should. She says, "If I'd known it was that bad, I never would have put myself through this." My heart audibly shattered into one million pieces.
Another fucked-up thing about cancer is blame. Who to blame, how much to blame them, how much blame we assign to ourselves and the resultant guilt, regret and anger. Cancer is a horrible, mysterious thing. It's scary and shapeless and seems omnipotent. Blame is one of the coping mechanisms. Without going much more into the subject, I appreciated Fies treatment of this subject.
I have to wonder if this is the kind of book you can give to someone who needs to read it. Some books aren't like that and people have to find them on their own, but I would really like to give this to my brother. As much as I struggle with all of the cancer in my family, I would hope my brother & I would be closer. But we barely discuss cancer. In fact, we barely talk at all. I guess I'm projecting my ideal world through this book. Mom's Cancer illustrates strong connections between three siblings dealing the up's and down's, including the good and bad parts of those relationships under extreme duress. I haven't made up my mind whether to send him a copy or not.
One of the fucked-up things about cancer is the balancing of hope, optimism & bravado on one side, and the hopelessness, helplessness and terror on the other. In one scene, the author draws his mother as a tightrope walker. On one side of her balancing pole, there is a vulture. The other side of the pole has an elephant. The tightrope stretches over a pool filled with crocodiles. And then she realizes the rope is on fire. I mean, basically. Yeah. Fuck Cancer. Thank you, Brian Fies, for drawing that.
There is another moment when Mom breaks down (the 5% scene) that wrung my heart. It really drove home how fragile her strength was, and how much of your ability to fight exists in your belief that you can/should. She says, "If I'd known it was that bad, I never would have put myself through this." My heart audibly shattered into one million pieces.
Another fucked-up thing about cancer is blame. Who to blame, how much to blame them, how much blame we assign to ourselves and the resultant guilt, regret and anger. Cancer is a horrible, mysterious thing. It's scary and shapeless and seems omnipotent. Blame is one of the coping mechanisms. Without going much more into the subject, I appreciated Fies treatment of this subject.
I have to wonder if this is the kind of book you can give to someone who needs to read it. Some books aren't like that and people have to find them on their own, but I would really like to give this to my brother. As much as I struggle with all of the cancer in my family, I would hope my brother & I would be closer. But we barely discuss cancer. In fact, we barely talk at all. I guess I'm projecting my ideal world through this book. Mom's Cancer illustrates strong connections between three siblings dealing the up's and down's, including the good and bad parts of those relationships under extreme duress. I haven't made up my mind whether to send him a copy or not.
crabbygirl's review against another edition
3.0
[guessing at the star rating / mining my old FB notes now that they are almost impossible to find]
no one will care more about your life than you do, and no one is better qualified to chart its course than you are. and so begins a poignant account of the author's family - and what happens when his mom is diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. told as a graphic novel, the story is simple enough for a everyman tale, and the simplicity is it strength. it feels real enough to me, with a longtime smoker for a mom, multiple siblings to squabble over choice of care, a divorced dad who offers the opposite of comfort.
the strongest takeaway from the book: when people face an emergency, they just become more of what they already are - like they get superpowers.
i'm going to remember that.
no one will care more about your life than you do, and no one is better qualified to chart its course than you are. and so begins a poignant account of the author's family - and what happens when his mom is diagnosed with brain and lung cancer. told as a graphic novel, the story is simple enough for a everyman tale, and the simplicity is it strength. it feels real enough to me, with a longtime smoker for a mom, multiple siblings to squabble over choice of care, a divorced dad who offers the opposite of comfort.
the strongest takeaway from the book: when people face an emergency, they just become more of what they already are - like they get superpowers.
i'm going to remember that.