- ISBN13: 9781888160437
- Condition: New
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Product Description
I cannot figure out who I am as a body these days, writes Caryn Mirriam- Goldberg in this powerful, tender and humorous memoir about resiliency and love in the face of cancer. Mirriam- Goldberg braves breast cancer,… More >>
The Sky Begins at Your Feet: A Memoir on Cancer, Community, and Coming Home to the Body
After reading Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg’s memoir about her battles with breast cancer, my own trauma of being a breast cancer survivor twice over seemed almost trivial in comparison. Her uplifting story is riveting.
The first paragraph in the preface sets the tone of her book:
“I cannot figure out who I am as a body these days. I look in the mirror each morning, each night. I look right into the scars, trying to read them like the dreams I have at night of driving around lost for hours, or not being able to make a call on a pay phone without punching in the wrong numbers. There is always an emergency.”
Mirriam-Goldberg’s memoir is set on the spacious prairie landscapes of Kansas, as indicated by the title, The Sky Begins at Your Feet. At the most productive stage of her life–teaching at Goddard College in Vermont twice a year, parenting three children, involved in the founding and organization of a conservation group, and continuing with her writing career–she is diagnosed as having breast cancer.
This begins her horrific and courageous saga of survival. She endures a lumpectomy, debilitating radiation and chemotherapy, while maintaining her sense of humor–a buzz cut followed by fake bird tattoos decorating her hairless head. Then she learns that her BRCA1 genetic mutation test is positive, an indication that expands her risks of breast and ovarian cancers. She confronts the sad realization that she will lose both of her breasts. Mirriam-Goldberg faces this, as well as the death of her father from pancreatic cancer, with amazing strenght and resolve buttressed by her loving, compassionate family and friends, and her close spiritual connection to the Kansas prairie.
I could relate to the fear and uncertainty that a cancer diagnosis brings. At the beginning of her memoir, I found I had difficulty keeping my own memories from bumping up against the author’s, but as I turned more and more pages, the poetic, personal, and humorous tone imparted a wonderful flow of awe and admiration for Mirriam-Goldberg’s storytelling genius. She is a true hero, and has written a must-read book for those of us who need and cherish one.
by Brenda Osborne
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
Rating: 5 / 5
I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who has gone through or knows anyone that has gone through cancer, it really digs into the true very sad and funny side of the little things this woman goes through while dealing with the death of her dad. Very funny with LOL moments galore.
Rating: 5 / 5
A powerfully honest and inspiring story of the author’s account of her journey with breast cancer. She reminds us that serious illness can re-awaken us to life’s beauty, deepen our respect for the fragile balance between our lives and the earth’s, and find our healing in the source of a supportive community.
I didn’t find this wonderful book until after my own journey with breast cancer but I’m happy to read it now as it is helping me to process the difficulties and ragged edges of that time in my life.
— Anne Marie Bennett, author of Bright Side of the Road: A Spiritual Journey Through Breast Cancer
Rating: 5 / 5
Almost nothing is more frightening in this day and age than to hear the C-word diagnosis. Yet there are miracles of healing and surgical help all around us and this book opens the door for anyone to step through into one woman’s world of those miracles. Caryn takes us with her on her journey by including us as a member of her family or as an old friend. She writes about her fears, her support system, her children’s discussions at the dinner table, as well as the struggle to accept the transformation of her changing body.
When tragedy strikes the family, we are included in working out the way to cope with it. I don’t think this book was written to describe all the medical and surgical procedures one has to go through, though Caryn does not shy away from telling about them as well as sharing some unique ways of handling difficult situations. It is a book that shows us options of how we can deal with the strain of transformation, how different role models can help us make our own choices. Reading this compelling book has helped me find my own clear, brave voice while facing death, loss, and destruction of things taken for granted.
Caryn’s writing is not full of overly technical vocabulary or jingoistic `feel good’ solutions. It is an honest, clear and wise insight into losing what appears to be the essence of one’s physical self and coming out as a whole person.
Once you start reading, you will want to know everything! And what I consider to be the sign of a good book is the fact that at the end you will want to know more.
Rating: 5 / 5