BOOK REVIEW: Lopsided. How having breast cancer can be really distracting

Well, I am finally getting around to writing reviews of various books that I've been reading over the past year or so. As you know, I sort of fancy myself as a "writer"... (laughs). I've been kicking around the idea of writing a memoir about my breast cancer experience. While I was researching books about young African-American women with breast cancer, I stumbled on Meredith Norton's memoir about her journey with breast cancer.

Meredith Norton is black. And female. And a breast cancer survivor. And that is about all of the similarities I could find between us. (laughs) This sister is as different from me as the moon is from cheese. But she seems like the kind of woman that I'd love to sit and chat with over a good drink (or three) and laugh. She has a caustic wit that is razor sharp. Very interesting lady it seems.

Her memoir was not what I expected. For me, it started a litle slowly... was a bit challenging for me to relate to her rhythm initially. However, once it picked up, I found myself quite riveted to her descriptions of her world as a breast cancer patient.

She was a newlywed, first-time mother, living in France with her very French husband when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Because she is a native American, she came home to receive treatment... leaving her husband behind for a time and learning to struggle with a life-threatening disease and a toddler at the same time.

I won't give away all of the juicy bits but I will say this:  she's very honest about her emotional and physical journey with breast cancer. She is not too sappy, not too emotionally draining... and she is also not too peppy, not too cheerleader-ish about the journey. She is wonderfully and honestly endearing.

The book is a relatively quick read -- about 200 pages -- and it gives a good insight into the heart and mind of a young woman who is facing her mortality and trying to remain a calm constant for her young family. I highly recommend checking it out.

If no other reason... the title is quite appropriate -- Lopsided. How having breast cancer can be really distracting.

Breast cancer is ... if nothing else... quite distracting.