A review by redroofcolleen
Lessons in Taxidermy: A Compendium of Safety and Danger by Bee Lavender
5.0
Bee Lavender writes about life, growing up in the outskirts of society in a place at once tender and violent, and her body being riddled by cancer after cancer, illness after illness, tragedy after tragedy, from the ripe age of twelve.
Her life is a steady succession of shocks, and though there is ample reason to feel pity for her, a teen mother, a body that will never be cancer-free, more surgeries and procedures than I can even fathom, it is certainly not her aim. Quite to the contrary, she is the type of woman who has taken her lot, for better or worse, and seen it as greater than the sum of its parts, far, far greater. She understands the repetition of life, the ceaseless cycles, and is ever more keenly aware of death and our proximity to it, at any given moment.
Yet, she's hardly been afraid to live or exert her power. She travels, dances, and drives the countryside. She is fun and funny. She cannot be contained. She speaks her mind. She shares wholeheartedly. Dazzling and terrifying and absolutely worth reading. In a single sitting-- I nearly forgot to mention that. I couldn't put it down.
Her life is a steady succession of shocks, and though there is ample reason to feel pity for her, a teen mother, a body that will never be cancer-free, more surgeries and procedures than I can even fathom, it is certainly not her aim. Quite to the contrary, she is the type of woman who has taken her lot, for better or worse, and seen it as greater than the sum of its parts, far, far greater. She understands the repetition of life, the ceaseless cycles, and is ever more keenly aware of death and our proximity to it, at any given moment.
Yet, she's hardly been afraid to live or exert her power. She travels, dances, and drives the countryside. She is fun and funny. She cannot be contained. She speaks her mind. She shares wholeheartedly. Dazzling and terrifying and absolutely worth reading. In a single sitting-- I nearly forgot to mention that. I couldn't put it down.