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92nd out of 100 books
—
201 voters
Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer
by
Susan Gubar
Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008, Susan Gubar underwent radical debulking surgery, an attempt to excise the cancer by removing part or all of many organs in the lower abdomen. Her memoir mines the deepest levels of anguish and devotion as she struggles to come to terms with her body’s betrayal and the frightful protocols of contemporary medicine. She finds solace in t...more
Hardcover, 298 pages
Published
April 30th 2012
by W. W. Norton & Company
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I just started this book yesterday and considered calling in sick today so I could finish it. My sister Debra died from ovarian cancer on October 6, 2010 after being diagnosed in early July of 2010. I remember hearing the word "debulked" then reading it in the pathology report. It was a horrifying procedure. Debra chose not to go through the other trauma of chemo and radiation after hearing the surgeon's brief description of what he'd done, explaining it somewhat like this: "Imagine that your ab...more
More than a book about ovarian cancer and its treatment, Memoir reflects powerfully on the meaning of life and the journey toward death.
A compelling memoir that I'd recommend for any woman, as ovarian cancer remains more deadly than breast cancer, and Gubar offers a rare look at the daily insults of living with ovarian cancer and the limited means we have of treating it. She explains "debulking," for example, which is surgical removal of cancerous cells in the abdomen, which often results in damage to other organs, such as the bowels, and is usually unsuccessful in fully removing the cancer. Her honesty is diminished somewhat by...more
I appreciated Gubar's intention to be honest about her experiences, but regretted that she so often took flight in intellectualizing instead of telling her story. A good half of the book is her citing Dead Male Authors and the few officially recognized feminists beloved by post-modernist academics as if some famous person saying something somehow made it true. The intense experiences she herself attempts to recount often are covered in a sentence or two.
Reading this, what struck me, as someone...more
Reading this, what struck me, as someone...more
A quick Amazon.com search using key words “Breast Cancer Memoirs” brings up 277 results. Change “Breast” to “Ovarian” and you get only 20. True, a woman’s chances of getting breast cancer sometime during her life are 1 in 8, while her lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is approximately 1 in 67. But as Susan Gubar makes abundantly clear in Memoir of a Debulked Woman, ovarian cancer goes places other cancers do not, often tangling up with the intestines. Bowel obstructions are not uncommon; neither a...more
If you're looking for a book that is full of cheerful platitudes and blind hope, this is not for you. In fact, in the introduction, Gubar writes, "...For those who have reason to believe or need to believe that their cancer is curable, please remember this book is not about you...." After seeing the relentless ravages of ovarian cancer up close and personal for over 2 years, this book accurately captures the devastating diagnosis and the limits of medicine. A cancer that has such a high morbidit...more
Feminist literary critic Gubar shares her diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer. As she puts it, she is gutted, drained, bagged, and poisoned, and suffers considerable humiliation and pain. Nevertheless, and to her surprise, she continues treatments, knowing that for ovarian cancer, the treatments are more likely to be "suboptimal" than not. Gubar draws from the poetry and memoirs of those stricken with cancer or intimately familiar with it, including as Elizabeth Edwards, Terry Tempest Wil...more
I got this book on Thursday and finished it Sunday night. it is a riveting account of a woman dealing not only with a cancer diagnosis, but with the impact of the very treatment prescribed for its cure. My own surprise diagnosis was just four days short of one year ago. Like her I was stunned and yet strangely numbed by the shock of what had been found. I knew nothing about the specifics of ovarian cancer and have learned much in this year.
Gubar does not give us a feel-good account of her cance...more
Gubar does not give us a feel-good account of her cance...more
An unflinching account of ovarian cancer and its treatments. Every woman should read this book. Yes, it's more difficult reading than your typical medical memoir, but it's worth the effort. You'll get a no-holds-barred account of what "debulking" entails--something your physicians probably won't explain before you undergo the operation, because you probably would not consent to it, if you knew what it entails, and if you knew the complications that you may experience afterwards. The side effects...more
Gubar wrote a powerful and necessary book about ovarian cancer. More than that, it is a realistic and helpful book in that it explains how ovarian cancer is incurable, mostly (discovered, in general in stage 3 or 4), how the surgery and chemo are brutal and palliative (extending life expectancies from 3-4 months for a few years, if the chemo is repeated, you can get several years in some cases). With great honesty, she describes the humiliating and debilitating effects of the treatments for ovar...more
Jun 27, 2012
Pamela
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
techies, health professionals; NOT for patients except the most gutsy (pun intended).
Recommended to Pamela by:
website
This book does not really read like a memoir, it's impersonal and replete with literary references, poetic allusions, intellectual projections, and I expected so much more in towards the "personal account" side of the spectrum. It seems like I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of "I" statements. "Memoir of a Debulked Woman" is more like a non-fiction book with the author and ovarian cancer as the subject(s). I am not interested so much in the intellectualization of Gubar's experien...more
This a memoir of an English professor who was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2008 (and based on the very low 5-year survival rate, has most likely succumbed to it by now). While I found her writings on the disease (including historical perspectives that as recent as about 100 years ago, women were mainly considered to be a pair of ovaries with a body attached) and struggles with treatment and her most-likely impending death both informative and honest, I did not like the fact that she...more
I read this book while receiving neoadjuvant chemo as I awaited the scheduling of my own debulking surgery. I was seeking reassurance, and this memoir
absolutely terrified me.
After I had recovered from surgery and finished up my chemo, I remained hungry for insight on this disease so I went back and re-read it.
If you are seeking reassurance and warm fuzziness, then I warn you that this memoir is not all sunshine and lollipops.
It is one woman's experience with a disease that the patient deals with...more
absolutely terrified me.
After I had recovered from surgery and finished up my chemo, I remained hungry for insight on this disease so I went back and re-read it.
If you are seeking reassurance and warm fuzziness, then I warn you that this memoir is not all sunshine and lollipops.
It is one woman's experience with a disease that the patient deals with...more
Notes:
pg. 15
"'Of the 22,210 American women predicted to be affected in 2005, likely 75% will be diagnosed in advanced stages and mortality will exceed 16,000."-Virginia R. Martin and Carol Cherry, 2006
"When discerned in stages III and IV, 'The overall median survival is 25 to 30 months.'" Chris Bledy, 2008
pg. 41
"According to the doctor-historian Ann Dally, 'Virchow, probably the greatest pathologist of the nineteenth century, wrote, 'Women is a pair of ovaries with a human being attached; wherea...more
pg. 15
"'Of the 22,210 American women predicted to be affected in 2005, likely 75% will be diagnosed in advanced stages and mortality will exceed 16,000."-Virginia R. Martin and Carol Cherry, 2006
"When discerned in stages III and IV, 'The overall median survival is 25 to 30 months.'" Chris Bledy, 2008
pg. 41
"According to the doctor-historian Ann Dally, 'Virchow, probably the greatest pathologist of the nineteenth century, wrote, 'Women is a pair of ovaries with a human being attached; wherea...more
Coming from the woman who jump-started feminist theory--the Wollstonecraft of the 20th century--Gubar's narrative omits none of the morbidity nor emotion associated with the countless surgeries, chemotherapy treatments, personal and medical interactions, etc. of the cancer victim. Reading the canon of cancer narratives, drawing from illness depicted in literature, and discerning stereotypes of the chaste lonely ovarian cancer patient reinforced by Edson's Wit and others, Gubar shows how she conn...more
When I read that there was a memoir by the co-author of the groundbreaking, feminist Madwoman in the Attic, I had to read it. I am also interested in peoples' interactions with cancer diagnoses and meditations on mortality. And like Gubar, in the abstract I am resistant to some of the extreme measures that decrease the quality of life while extending it only briefly.
As might be expected of an English literature professor, the style is wonderful; whether Gubar is describing a good day or a bad d...more
As might be expected of an English literature professor, the style is wonderful; whether Gubar is describing a good day or a bad d...more
As a cancer survivor (breast cancer) I find memoirs by other women who have been through cancer very interesting, and while I agree with the author that all the cheery, positive stories are a bit tiring and off-putting to those of us who do NOT consider our cancer experience to be a gift, this memoir was not very satisfactory. Her story is horrific and enlightening and should feel very personal but it doesn't. There is so much time spent quoting other writers and philosophizing that it ends up f...more
Is it me or just the books I am selecting to read this summer? Yes I read the entire book but still not sure what she was trying to say except she thinks "cheery" self-help books about cancer suck, chemo sucks, surgery sucks; and that the quality of life is so diminished by treatment, why go thru it--but she, like many others, continue to choose it... oh and more research and money has to be dedicated to early detection and treatment--well, that's a "no brainer" for lack of a better word. In the...more
Gubar's book is grisly, and not particularly hopeful - because most cases of ovarian cancer are not diagnosed early enough, treatment is too often not very successful. She anticipates death, spins beauty and understanding out of bits of poetry and prose. It's heart-rending, and clear-eyed, and makes the point that our "social prohibitions against acknowledging dying or mourning" mean that we shy from hospice, rail against "death panels", and spend countless dollars keeping the very sick alive. B...more
This has been on my list for a while now, and I picked it up to read for women's history month. Gubar is a professor of English and women's studies and has many published academic works. This book is her personal memoir of her diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer. I can admire her initial reaction to finding out about her cancer on Election Day 2008. She researches the topic and gathers materials. Her search takes her far and wide--I love her analysis of several Frida Kahlo paintings and h...more
I wanted to read this for two reasons: I adore Susan Gubar (and Sandra Gilbert) as a literary critic and a dear friend of mine was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. This certainly was a very candid tale of one woman's battle with this horrible disease. Dr. Gubar really did not hold back on anything and I think ovarian cancer really needs more attention, because its cure and survival rates are still abysmal. Breast cancer, also a horrible disease, gets lots of the public's attention, but re...more
This book was difficult to read at times, but fantastic nonetheless. When I say "difficult," I don't mean because of style or syntax; rather, the content is very emotional and Gubar's description of cancer treatments (and the effects of those treatments) is graphic. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a scholar of either literature or feminism, anyone who has read The Madwoman in the Attic, or anyone who is simply interested in a personal account of survival. Gubar's existential journey...more
Here is why I like this book. She is not all happy, hopeful, saccharine-sweet-everyting-is-going-to-be-fine after cancer. She is frustrated, fatigued and caught in the throws of cancer, surgery, and chemo. She writes about her cancer and treatments in a way that I often discuss with my patients. It is work. It is hard. It is scary. I hear from patient's and their families the need to "fight." I wonder about the "fight" as an optimistic getting through. I am convinced if the will to fight the can...more
This book is fantastic: Brave, bold, honest. The book makes a compelling case for the reason ovarian cancer is ignored (ie: discomfort with female reproductive issues). It's also incredibly honest about the fact that if you get diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you will die. And you will die probably within five years. It talks a lot about the unnecessary nature of the treatments -- and how harmful they are. I wish this book had been written before my stepmom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, but...more
I had Susan Gubar as a professor, and she was an amazing teacher. Her eclectic intelligence is very much a part of this memoir, as is her ability to celebrate the gifts of art and literature, as well as human relationships. The account of her ordeal with ovarian cancer is grueling and no-holds-barred, and the polemic against the medical establishment seems very needed. This is a difficult book to read, but offers many insights into this specific problem and into the nature of human suffering and...more
Thank you Susan Gubar for sharing , and in your own words, "this kind of witnessing, your journey through the dark days and nights of living with cancer. I agree with you that as in childbirth , we all need a doula to help with the dying process.
This is an important memoir from a courageous lady that was willing to share the nitty gritty unglamorous details of ovarian cancer.
Highly recommended to anyone, male or female. Well worth the time invested.
This is an important memoir from a courageous lady that was willing to share the nitty gritty unglamorous details of ovarian cancer.
Highly recommended to anyone, male or female. Well worth the time invested.
Memoir of a Debulked Woman is honest, unflinching, and without the 'just be positive' platitudes that litter so many books about cancer. This is the first memoir I've read that is an accurate description of the physical, mental and emotional toll of advanced-stage ovarian cancer. Susan Gubar articulates brilliantly so many of the difficult and thorny issues that face ovarian cancer patients, our families, and the medical community.
Brilliant and literate account of dying from ovarian cancer and the exacerbations caused by aggressive treatment. The author is brutally honest about her condition and what it is doing to her mind and body. The approach of death is everywhere, and I left the book dwelling on the inevitability of my own death, the harshness and degradations of its occurrence, and the wish that I can face it in as clear-sighted a manner as the author.
This is a very gritty memoir of feminist academic Susan Grubar's ovarian cancer treatment - the good, the bad and the ugly. Be prepared - does not hold back on the ugly. She contrasts the vague PR platitudes written in brochures about the disease with her real life experience in all itsblood and guts. She refers to the time before the MOAS (mother of all surgeries, as the doctors call it) as her bulky time, and discusses how empty she feels after she is, as she says, eviscerated. Very well writt...more
A memoir I was anxious to read the moment I saw it mentioned in the NYT. But I found Gubar's story so harrowing that I was left queasy with nausea or terror repeatedly throughout my attempts at reading it (even in the non-clinical chapters on the history of ovarian cancer). I hope many people -- healthy women, patients, doctors, men -- read this, though.
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Dec 21, 2012 06:21am
Feb 28, 2013 07:18pm