Monday, May 14, 2018

Chick Lit but Not Fiction--Jennifer Weiner in CancerLand


There has to be at least one Jennifer Weiner novel--or movie--that you love. She's that writer who captures women's experiences with their mothers, sisters, friends and shoes. She makes you laugh and cry. The women in her stories are just like us.

But this week--in her essay for the New York Times--Weiner tells her story of a short visit to CancerLand when she lived for weeks with a diagnosis of cancer  and then her treatment for a pre-cancerous condition. The beauty of this piece--she captures exactly that first day of panic, fear, strategy and sustenance. And then the twist (and her novels always have a twist) she hits hard at the question of cancer screenings.

While I'm sorry she had to go through that, I am glad that she got to write about it and share this information in her brilliant "Everywoman" style.

Here's the link to the New York Times article:

https://nyti.ms/2Ibge8o

And here are two of her best-ever novels: