Do you love the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”? Do you always
stop to watch part of “You’ve Got Mail” when you are flipping through the
channels late at night? Have you laughed out loud when reading, “How to Eat Like a
Child”? And have you insisted that your friends see the play, “Love, Loss and
What I Wore”? If you said yes to any of the above, you are a Delia Ephron fan.
Yes, Delia is sister to Nora Ephron, with whom she co-wrote
lots more movies and plays including “When Harry Met Sally”—Yes, that’s the one
with the great line by Rob Reiner’s mother in the deli, who says, “I’ll have
what she’s having.”
So funny, so clever, so making-life-light-hearted. Except
that Delia’s life is not all fun and clever and lighthearted. It was --and
is--like ours—funny at times and tragic at times and often funny when it’s most
painfully tragic.
Her new book, “Sister Mother Husband Dog” is a series of
essays about loss. About loss and cancer. About loss and cancer and career.
About loss and cancer and career and alcoholism. About loss and cancer and
career and alcoholism --and family. Hence it is a highly recommended book for
readers in Cancer Land—we know and also want to laugh at loss and cancer and
career and yes family. Yes, addiction too.
The opening essay, “Losing Nora” is very much about cancer
and about the death of Delia’s famous sister Nora Ephron. It is also about a
powerful, quirky, loving sometimes strained relationship with a sister who
chose not to tell anyone (except a few) that she was dying of cancer—and
Delia takes apart the relationship, the love, the competition and the losses
(many) in that sisterhood.
I highly recommend this book—to laugh out loud, to cry for
two sisters, and to feel less alone in Cancer Land where, as we know, there are
just no right choices.
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