Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy
A Memoir
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
“A bold memoir” of one young woman’s courageous battle with breast cancer—the basis for the Emmy-nominated Lifetime movie starring Sarah Chalke (People).
Having recently graduated from Columbia Journalism School and landed her dream job at 20/20, the last thing twenty-seven-year-old Geralyn expects to hear is a breast cancer diagnosis. And there is one part of the diagnosis that no one will discuss with her: what it means to be a young woman with cancer in a beauty-obsessed culture. Trying to find herself while losing her vibrancy and her looks, Geralyn embarks on a road of self-acceptance that will inspire all women. Although her story is explicitly about a period of time when she was driven by fear and uncertainty, Geralyn managed a transformation that will encourage all women under siege to discover their own courage and beauty. The important and outrageous lessons of Why I Wore Lipstick come fast and furious with the same gusto that Geralyn has learned to bring to every aspect of her life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lucas was 27, happily working as a 20/20 producer, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Suddenly, her world became a blur of appointments with surgeons and emotional breakdowns. Her book's catchy title belies its substantial content: this is an honest, perceptive memoir from a feisty survivor who's willing to discuss every detail, like getting sick in cabs during chemo treatments, baldness and sex. In fact, the book opens with Lucas, who's now 36, recounting her visit to a New York topless bar as she agonizes over losing a breast and contemplates reconstructive surgery. Lucas doesn't dismiss her fears; she talks about wanting to have a child and how her husband withdraws when so many other people step in to provide her with emotional support. What makes her memoir so moving is the author's breezy style and her focus on the daily details of her illness ("I am in the shower, and when I start lathering my comb-over, most of it stays in my hands. The big patches of hair just come out. No warning"). The story of Lucas's recovery, and of the birth of her daughter, make her book surprisingly optimistic and immensely empowering.
