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Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting
A hilarious and wickedly irreverent look at life with cancer
Lopsided is not your ordinary cancer memoir. Meredith Norton chronicles every step of her experience, starting with her bizarre symptoms while living in Paris to moving back home to California and living with her compulsive parents and their five television sets. Irreverent and incredibly funny, Norton rails against self-pity and victimhood and rants about the innumerable copies of Lance Armstrong’s cancer survival book pressed on her by well-meaning family and friends.
Alongside the harrowing portrait of her treatments, Norton offers equally amusing memories from her offbeat life. We see her childhood time during a somewhat racist ski trip, a family reunion at a Florida alligator farm, and her life in a tree house with a neighbor, who, despite being vegan, hates mice enough to taxidermy them into miniature versions of racecar drivers, Jesus, a UPS delivery man, and Sally Jesse Raphael.
Like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, Norton’s razor-sharp wit is at once riotous and excruciating. Lopsided is the remarkable debut of a masterful humorist.
Lopsided is not your ordinary cancer memoir. Meredith Norton chronicles every step of her experience, starting with her bizarre symptoms while living in Paris to moving back home to California and living with her compulsive parents and their five television sets. Irreverent and incredibly funny, Norton rails against self-pity and victimhood and rants about the innumerable copies of Lance Armstrong’s cancer survival book pressed on her by well-meaning family and friends.
Alongside the harrowing portrait of her treatments, Norton offers equally amusing memories from her offbeat life. We see her childhood time during a somewhat racist ski trip, a family reunion at a Florida alligator farm, and her life in a tree house with a neighbor, who, despite being vegan, hates mice enough to taxidermy them into miniature versions of racecar drivers, Jesus, a UPS delivery man, and Sally Jesse Raphael.
Like David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, Norton’s razor-sharp wit is at once riotous and excruciating. Lopsided is the remarkable debut of a masterful humorist.
213 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
11 people are currently reading
414 people want to read
About the author
Meredith Norton
3 booksThis irreverent account of a battle with breast cancer is also a riotous memoir of family, friends, & a life unusually lived."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
July 27, 2008
This book made me laugh harder than I've laughed in a long time. I laughed so hard at points that it made me cry. I laughed through the first half of the book, and was engrossed in the whole thing. She is a smart ass who is great with irony (as the title implies).
The narrative bounces around in ways that are hard to follow at times, but she gives great (and fun) insights into ordinary life and relationships over time with family and friends.
You may have to have a smart ass sense of humor to really love this book, but her wise cracking take on things is refreshing. Well worth the quick read.
The narrative bounces around in ways that are hard to follow at times, but she gives great (and fun) insights into ordinary life and relationships over time with family and friends.
You may have to have a smart ass sense of humor to really love this book, but her wise cracking take on things is refreshing. Well worth the quick read.
December 12, 2012
In an attempt to be witty, Norton often comes across as grumpy.
Also, in an anecdote from being fourteen at summer camp, was it really necessary to refer to your bunk-mate as a 'bull dyke', with 'lesbian-style' pants? Are we to assume that she was out then, or if out now and it is written reflectively? Or were you just expanding on your previous description of her aggression?
Also, in an anecdote from being fourteen at summer camp, was it really necessary to refer to your bunk-mate as a 'bull dyke', with 'lesbian-style' pants? Are we to assume that she was out then, or if out now and it is written reflectively? Or were you just expanding on your previous description of her aggression?
November 14, 2022
This book made me laugh at a time when there isn't a lot to laugh about. It gave me hope and insight.
August 26, 2011
I have weird feelings on this memoir. I have an academic interest in and addiction to women's disease narratives. I also love books that are funny. This book is both, to the point that I had to stop the audio book because I was laughing too much to listen well. For the first five CDs, the book was a 5/5 star kind of book. Then the last CD came along and she said something about a bully from her childhood being a "fourteen year old bulldyke" and I was like wait, what?
Yeah. I don't know whether I should be offended by this book or not, basically. I'm a lesbian; the author is either heterosexual or bisexual with a male partner for the entire book. Norton is African-American, and she speaks bluntly about her experiences with race and as a part of a biracial marriage, including her own internalized racism. And yet I draw the line here, at 'bulldyke'? Is that a fair line for me to draw? I don't know.
Anyway. That distracted me from the last parts of the book, which is sad, because "maybe there's no message (to cancer), maybe it just sucks" is one of the wisest things I've heard any memoir say.
The bit with the woman using taxidermy as a mice repellant is still freaking hysterical, though.
Yeah. I don't know whether I should be offended by this book or not, basically. I'm a lesbian; the author is either heterosexual or bisexual with a male partner for the entire book. Norton is African-American, and she speaks bluntly about her experiences with race and as a part of a biracial marriage, including her own internalized racism. And yet I draw the line here, at 'bulldyke'? Is that a fair line for me to draw? I don't know.
Anyway. That distracted me from the last parts of the book, which is sad, because "maybe there's no message (to cancer), maybe it just sucks" is one of the wisest things I've heard any memoir say.
The bit with the woman using taxidermy as a mice repellant is still freaking hysterical, though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2008
This book was so funny that I ended up working out for an extra 20 minutes. Unheard of for me. I just kept compulsively reading and reading and pedaling and ellipticalling.
There have been complaints about how the author wanders off on tangents into unrelated, but funny, anecdotes of her life. To me, that was one of the reasons I kept reading. Maybe because that's how my brain works and it's nice to have validation that other people's brains work in the same way.
All in all, an amusing and quick read for those who love unique, quirky voices telling stories.
There have been complaints about how the author wanders off on tangents into unrelated, but funny, anecdotes of her life. To me, that was one of the reasons I kept reading. Maybe because that's how my brain works and it's nice to have validation that other people's brains work in the same way.
All in all, an amusing and quick read for those who love unique, quirky voices telling stories.
January 2, 2014
One of the best memoirs I've read! This woman is funny, honest, irreverent, smart, and someone I would love to be friends with. For anyone who has been touched by breast cancer, I highly recommend this book.
February 28, 2018
With smart-ass sass, Norton's memoir about her breast cancer treatment is humorous, sincere and intimate. This book has been more helpful and comforting than anything else I've read while undergoing treatment myself.
July 15, 2008
If I were a professor grading this book it was get a B.
It's a fairly solid work and Norton's personality definitely comes through but there is a wildly scattered plot. More than once I would have commented in the margin "a separate paragraph does NOT mean a completely separate and wholly unrelated anecdote, that is what multiple line breaks or those weird centered symbols/lines are for."
Norton's personality, around which this memoir is centered can also become a little trying. She is a strong and fierce woman, unafraid to showcase her flaws but at the same time that leaves you wondering things like: what the hell were you doing marrying a Frenchman and living in France if you couldn't even communicate on a rudimentary level?? You ever hear of FRENCH LESSONS, woman? I am skeptical that there was no ex-pat community in PARIS that she could reach out to. It hasn't been that long since Stein, Toklas, and Hemmingway were all hanging out there having a merry old time. But then again, she does admit to being somewhat lazy and having entitlement issues that only the daughter of a doctor who went to private high schools and Columbia University could. I can safely say I know nothing about that and therefore cannot, with any veracity, speculate on what the was thinking then.
It's mentioned on the back cover but I have to agree with them: one of the best things about Norton's memoir is how she fights against the Lance Armstrong paragon of cancer survivor. He rode for miles on one testicle and pumped full of chemicals, hooray for him. She, however, would really love to just be able to care for her infant son and maybe take care of herself? It's not that Norton sets the bar low; she keeps it attainable.
It's a fairly solid work and Norton's personality definitely comes through but there is a wildly scattered plot. More than once I would have commented in the margin "a separate paragraph does NOT mean a completely separate and wholly unrelated anecdote, that is what multiple line breaks or those weird centered symbols/lines are for."
Norton's personality, around which this memoir is centered can also become a little trying. She is a strong and fierce woman, unafraid to showcase her flaws but at the same time that leaves you wondering things like: what the hell were you doing marrying a Frenchman and living in France if you couldn't even communicate on a rudimentary level?? You ever hear of FRENCH LESSONS, woman? I am skeptical that there was no ex-pat community in PARIS that she could reach out to. It hasn't been that long since Stein, Toklas, and Hemmingway were all hanging out there having a merry old time. But then again, she does admit to being somewhat lazy and having entitlement issues that only the daughter of a doctor who went to private high schools and Columbia University could. I can safely say I know nothing about that and therefore cannot, with any veracity, speculate on what the was thinking then.
It's mentioned on the back cover but I have to agree with them: one of the best things about Norton's memoir is how she fights against the Lance Armstrong paragon of cancer survivor. He rode for miles on one testicle and pumped full of chemicals, hooray for him. She, however, would really love to just be able to care for her infant son and maybe take care of herself? It's not that Norton sets the bar low; she keeps it attainable.
February 7, 2012
Meredith Norton was living in France with her French husband and their new baby boy, Luca, when she noticed that one of her breasts was much larger than the other. Initially attributing the discrepancy to lactation and breast-feeding, Meredith decided to have it checked out while she was visiting friends and family in the states. After dealing with the French medical system during her pregnancy, Meredith was surprised by how seriously she was taken and how quickly she was diagnosed once she returned to the states. Unfortunately, her doctors discovered a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, which necessitated aggressive forms of treatment. Meredith was not an ideal patient – she often did her own research and canceled her mastectomy at least 5 times before finally going through with it. She suffered a host of serious side-effects from various treatments, but managed to keep her sense of humor (not exactly a ‘positive attitude’) throughout (or at least in her memoir).
This is not just a cancer memoir. It’s the story of Meredith’s life. Her descriptions of the French are hysterical, and stories about her family and her young life transcend her experience of her cancer, making this a very rich experience. My first thought upon finishing this was, “I hope she survived,” because what a funny, wonderful woman Meredith Norton is. So, when I tracked her down on Facebook (her website was inconclusive, as were my attempts to Google her), and saw that she’d posted as recently as earlier this January (2012), I was relieved. Good. Very good. Maybe she’ll write some more. I certainly hope so.
This is not just a cancer memoir. It’s the story of Meredith’s life. Her descriptions of the French are hysterical, and stories about her family and her young life transcend her experience of her cancer, making this a very rich experience. My first thought upon finishing this was, “I hope she survived,” because what a funny, wonderful woman Meredith Norton is. So, when I tracked her down on Facebook (her website was inconclusive, as were my attempts to Google her), and saw that she’d posted as recently as earlier this January (2012), I was relieved. Good. Very good. Maybe she’ll write some more. I certainly hope so.
August 17, 2008
I heard Meredith Norton on the radio a few weeks back getting interviewed about this book and reading passages of it. I was somewhere on 280 and I remember the moment so clearly that the side of the freeway wall is now, unforgettable. Her wit, humor and skewed perspectives were so funny and inspiring that I ordered the book almost as soon as I was not driving. Now that I have read the book, I am a tiny bit disappointed. Although I enjoyed it very much, in fact I laughed so loud in bed that Dutch had to put the pillows over his head so he could continue sleeping. It wasn't a long book, and it ended suddenly, so the overall effect was that I only read half the book. I wanted to know what happened to her husband Thibault, because her auther's blurb only mentioned herself and her son "living in Sonoma Co" and he didn't even get a mention in the acknowledgements, even though he is a constant, supportive presence in the book. I was also irritated by the jacket's constant comparison of her to David Sedaris, which I really didn't think was fair or true. Sedaris comes off in his writing as having a teflon, slightly non-human core, while Norton's vulnerable self is clearly evident. I eagerly look forward to any more books she choses to publish.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 19, 2011
The medical part of the story was interesting, dealing with choices about treatment, side effects, recurrence scares, people's reactions to her hair loss from chemo, and more.
A major complication in my enjoyment of the book, however, was that she sure seemed to be a very disagreeable person. Spends a lot of time on how much she dislikes Lance Armstrong, fat people, many ex-boyfriends, teachers from her high school days, kids she later taught, Katherine Hepburn (!), people who don't get how brilliant she is, and so on.
A common rhetorical structure for the short chapters in which the book is organized was (a) contemporary scene-setting [in a market in France, in a waiting room at a clinic, with her toddler son at home, whatever], (b) isolation of unpleasant aspect of that scene (someone dissed her, she got frustrated, etc.), (c) triggered unpleasant memory (last time I was kept waiting was when my "date" showed up 15 minutes late in high school, and boy was he a loser, and.........).
I gather from the jacket copy that the hook is that she's supposed to be hysterically funny. Wasn't my experience of the book.
A major complication in my enjoyment of the book, however, was that she sure seemed to be a very disagreeable person. Spends a lot of time on how much she dislikes Lance Armstrong, fat people, many ex-boyfriends, teachers from her high school days, kids she later taught, Katherine Hepburn (!), people who don't get how brilliant she is, and so on.
A common rhetorical structure for the short chapters in which the book is organized was (a) contemporary scene-setting [in a market in France, in a waiting room at a clinic, with her toddler son at home, whatever], (b) isolation of unpleasant aspect of that scene (someone dissed her, she got frustrated, etc.), (c) triggered unpleasant memory (last time I was kept waiting was when my "date" showed up 15 minutes late in high school, and boy was he a loser, and.........).
I gather from the jacket copy that the hook is that she's supposed to be hysterically funny. Wasn't my experience of the book.
June 18, 2009
I'm not sure what I expected from this book (although it was promoted as Sedaris-like, so they had me there). That part disappoints, as Norton is not all that funny. Sardonic and narcissistic, yes, but NOT funny. Granted, the subject matter isn’t all that funny (breast cancer), and while I did appreciate her practical approach to her disease and treatment, I guess I expected a little more heart and a lot less sarcasm (and this is from someone who appreciates sarcasm, believe me). Her use of explicit language and not-so-funny life stories smacked of trying too hard. If she had focused on her disease, and its meaning, this would have been a better memoir. But the fact that she admits that she didn’t want to do that while going through treatment begs the question: Why would you then write a book about it?
August 23, 2009
Meredith is trying to figure life out. She's a free spirit who is constantly following her whims. When she finally decides to settle down, she's in Paris with her husband and they have a child. Desperate for a change of scenery, Meredith and her baby boy fly to the US to spend time with her parents. While she's there, she pulls out her boob for her mother's inspection. Her mother's reaction scares Meredith into seeing a doctor. The good news is Meredith hasn't lost her sense of humor and allows you to ride shotgun on the story of her life.
This book is a really fun read. Meredith is an extremely likable person and I truly hope that she uses her writing talent to tell many more stories. If you have boobs, you should read this book. And this isn't a book that's just for the ladies. I actually knew a guy in his early twenties who passed away because of breast cancer.
July 19, 2008
I loved this book written by an African-American breast cancer survivor who possesses the dry & dark humor that I also love. She is getting well-justified rave reviews. She, her husband, and young son were living in Paris when she was diagnosed. After some problems with French doctors, she returned to her family in the states to receive her treatment. She chronicles her cancer journey with side trips through her past life which are liberally sprinkled with humorous self-deprication. I really did laugh out loud throughout this book.
August 14, 2012
There is absolutely nothing unique about this rambling, indulgent "memoir." Every other recalled memory involves some mention of an exotic vacation or super-hot ex-boyfriend. There is cancer, there is treatment, and then there is nothing: the ending is forced, awkward, and sudden.
Every person who has or is battling cancer deserves immense respect for their strength and perseverance, but not every survivor needs to write a bloody memoir.
Oh, and to whomever wrote the line comparing her "razor-sharp wit" to that of David Sedaris: No. Just no.
Every person who has or is battling cancer deserves immense respect for their strength and perseverance, but not every survivor needs to write a bloody memoir.
Oh, and to whomever wrote the line comparing her "razor-sharp wit" to that of David Sedaris: No. Just no.
July 14, 2009
This book had me literally laughing out loud, often in places where this garnered me some odd looks, like the auto shop. My mom lived through two kinds of cancer, so I fully understand and appreciate the need for black humor to get through such a crisis.
I could relate to Meredith's career dilettantism and her problem of having a great academic start but hoping to have the talent everyone said she had carry her through without having to find direction.
I could relate to Meredith's career dilettantism and her problem of having a great academic start but hoping to have the talent everyone said she had carry her through without having to find direction.
September 14, 2012
Ah, Meredith Norton you are hilarious. This book was absolutely hysterical which made such a real book very readable. I don't mean real like she described every little procedure in medical terms (which a lot of these kinds of books have done) but real like your best friend was real when she told you about that one night stand she wished she hadn't had. I loved this.
August 23, 2008
I would never have believed there was such a thing as a funny book about breast cancer, but I was wrong. This author is laugh-out-loud funny about an otherwise anything-but-funny situation. I hope she writes more books!
December 30, 2008
The first half is hilarious and tragic. The last half isn't as interesting. However, I really admire the author and her spunk.
August 30, 2020
Hopefully, Meredith's story is one most women will never have to experience outside the pages of a book.
In this memoir, Meredith managed to share the serious details of her breast cancer with an amazing sense of humor. Her story could easily be overwhelming without her ability to drop in comments and observations that make you smile...even giggle...in spite of the seriousness of the subject matter.
Nominated for a Books for a Better Life Award, whether you have battled breast cancer or know someone who has, you should read this book. Those who have had breast cancer will likely recognize their similar stories in these pages and those who have been lucky enough to avoid it, there is something to learn here. As women, we can all relate to her and feel compassion as she plays the cards life dealt to her.
In this memoir, Meredith managed to share the serious details of her breast cancer with an amazing sense of humor. Her story could easily be overwhelming without her ability to drop in comments and observations that make you smile...even giggle...in spite of the seriousness of the subject matter.
Nominated for a Books for a Better Life Award, whether you have battled breast cancer or know someone who has, you should read this book. Those who have had breast cancer will likely recognize their similar stories in these pages and those who have been lucky enough to avoid it, there is something to learn here. As women, we can all relate to her and feel compassion as she plays the cards life dealt to her.
September 19, 2024
Meredith tells her story of getting diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer at the age of 33 in between anecdotes of her life. She's irreverent and honest. She admits to a privileged upbringing and having difficulty figuring out what to be as an adult. Sometimes her descriptions are a bit offensive but not terrible and I guess cancer can give you a pass on that.
Overall a good audiobook. Borrowed from hoopla.
Overall a good audiobook. Borrowed from hoopla.
March 21, 2019
i laughed so hard at some of the comments author had made in the book.
April 29, 2019
It surprised me with some laugh out loud moments.
Read
February 18, 2021Tried to read this coming up to the anniversary of my own diagnosis and couldn't manage it. Maybe someday.
January 8, 2023
A refreshing and funny take!! A pleasure and breeze to read
September 1, 2023
I spent a good few moments chuckling. An honest look at what it's like to be the sick one.
May 28, 2025
Audiobook
April 3, 2015
What do you do when you live in France, married to a French national and return home to visit your family in California and receive terrible medical news? What do you do when your doctors tell you that your chance of surviving cancer is 40%? What do you do when your son is only 18-months-old and has little concept of what mommy is going through? For Meredith Norton, you face it with intelligence, humor and a strong family support system. Lopsided is a fresh, witty and at times brash memoir about breast cancer. It reminds me a bit of Amy Silverstein’s Sick Girl in that Norton holds little back and is honest and open about everything from the doctors to the pain to the side effects of chemotherapy and radiation and to her feelings about friends and family coming out of the woodwork to visit her after hearing about her diagnosis. [“The three worst groups of people to tell were the ones that had heard and didn’t know what to say when they saw me, the cancer survivors who expected me to feel some sort of camaraderie, and the pitiers who refused to believe that I wasn’t secretly a hysterical, hopeless, vomiting shell of my former self.”]
Norton, the child of a surgeon, grew up in an exclusive neighborhood and attended private school. [“My privileged upbringing had instilled in me a sense of entitlement that didn’t need reinforcing. That is really the American dream—not working hard and buying things, but reaching a place where there is no pressure to acknowledge that you already have everything.”] She was often one of only a few black girls at her school and has many white friends. A few of the friends she had who have since gone their separate ways now contacted her when they heard she had cancer and tried to make amends for their youthful disagreements. There’s one girl, Amy, who accused Meredith of stealing money from her on a ski trip even though Amy attended school on scholarship and Meredith came from a more wealthy family. The entire thing reeked of racism for Meredith at the time and she walked away from Amy forever.
Woven through her experiences as a cancer patient, Norton reminisces about her life experiences. Before she became an expatriate and moved to France and married Thibault, Norton had many occupations. She worked for three years as an inner-city 8th grade English and U.S. history teacher. She produced a game show in England. For three years, she and her best friend Rebecca ran a design company called Norton Whittaker Inc. that went bankrupt and nearly destroyed their friendship.
Norton chronicles her unilateral mastectomy [“What was left of my chest, my lone boob, served no purpose whatsoever but presented plenty of problems. If I wanted to appear presentable, I was forced to wear a falsie”], losing her hair [“no stubble, just smooth, rubbery skin stretched tight and waxy. I spent hours caressing it.”], chemotherapy [“About midway through the chemo my nails started to change color. My fingernails were so sensitive that I found myself lifting things with the heel of my palm and turning pages with my elbows. Slowly, the purple crept higher and higher up my nail bed and the white slowly pulled back to meet it.”], chemotherapy also caused her to void a grayish-brown noxious-smelling urine, hot flashes [they caused her to sweat right through her pillow even when sleeping in her underwear], fear of her mortality [“But what the therapist said was true: if I died prematurely Lucas wouldn’t even have any context in which to place me.”], and her distain for cancer survivor Lance “Live Well” Armstrong.
There’s a plethora of memoirs in the bookstores these days but I assure you that you will not regret reading Norton’s Lopsided. Whether you have a connection to cancer or not, Lopsided is a scintillating read. Norton is your friend, your college classmate. She’s that sassy woman you want to join your book club or invite for a cup of coffee. Her sharp, sardonic sense of humor propels this book from page one.
“When Rebecca found me in a corner at the Puma Outlet trying on a black wool cap and came at me with open arms it was the first time since skinny-dipping in snow runoff that I welcomed a hug. Since the diagnosis, all the hugs may have been intended to help me, but were really serving the hugger. Suddenly, these embraces were a refuge that I could hide my knobby, gray head behind. I was so ashamed to be contaminated by this ugly disease and have it broadcast so publicly”.
Norton, the child of a surgeon, grew up in an exclusive neighborhood and attended private school. [“My privileged upbringing had instilled in me a sense of entitlement that didn’t need reinforcing. That is really the American dream—not working hard and buying things, but reaching a place where there is no pressure to acknowledge that you already have everything.”] She was often one of only a few black girls at her school and has many white friends. A few of the friends she had who have since gone their separate ways now contacted her when they heard she had cancer and tried to make amends for their youthful disagreements. There’s one girl, Amy, who accused Meredith of stealing money from her on a ski trip even though Amy attended school on scholarship and Meredith came from a more wealthy family. The entire thing reeked of racism for Meredith at the time and she walked away from Amy forever.
Woven through her experiences as a cancer patient, Norton reminisces about her life experiences. Before she became an expatriate and moved to France and married Thibault, Norton had many occupations. She worked for three years as an inner-city 8th grade English and U.S. history teacher. She produced a game show in England. For three years, she and her best friend Rebecca ran a design company called Norton Whittaker Inc. that went bankrupt and nearly destroyed their friendship.
Norton chronicles her unilateral mastectomy [“What was left of my chest, my lone boob, served no purpose whatsoever but presented plenty of problems. If I wanted to appear presentable, I was forced to wear a falsie”], losing her hair [“no stubble, just smooth, rubbery skin stretched tight and waxy. I spent hours caressing it.”], chemotherapy [“About midway through the chemo my nails started to change color. My fingernails were so sensitive that I found myself lifting things with the heel of my palm and turning pages with my elbows. Slowly, the purple crept higher and higher up my nail bed and the white slowly pulled back to meet it.”], chemotherapy also caused her to void a grayish-brown noxious-smelling urine, hot flashes [they caused her to sweat right through her pillow even when sleeping in her underwear], fear of her mortality [“But what the therapist said was true: if I died prematurely Lucas wouldn’t even have any context in which to place me.”], and her distain for cancer survivor Lance “Live Well” Armstrong.
There’s a plethora of memoirs in the bookstores these days but I assure you that you will not regret reading Norton’s Lopsided. Whether you have a connection to cancer or not, Lopsided is a scintillating read. Norton is your friend, your college classmate. She’s that sassy woman you want to join your book club or invite for a cup of coffee. Her sharp, sardonic sense of humor propels this book from page one.
“When Rebecca found me in a corner at the Puma Outlet trying on a black wool cap and came at me with open arms it was the first time since skinny-dipping in snow runoff that I welcomed a hug. Since the diagnosis, all the hugs may have been intended to help me, but were really serving the hugger. Suddenly, these embraces were a refuge that I could hide my knobby, gray head behind. I was so ashamed to be contaminated by this ugly disease and have it broadcast so publicly”.
June 22, 2008
“What the F-U-K-C” is Going On?”
“I have cancer.”
“That explains your lame-ass party.”
Thus it goes when Meredith Norton tells her best friend Rebecca about her recent diagnosis.
“Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can be Really Distracting” is Meredith Norton’s acclaimed memoir of her time in life as a young wife and mother living with her husband, Thibaut, in Paris and while on a trip back to the States to see family and friends is diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. Earth shattering? Well of course. But life (and impending death) is only as good as you see it - and Ms. Meredith’s vision is fantastically distorted. Like each and every “my name is [insert name here] and I have cancer” book, “Lopsided” communicates the challenges, struggles, fears, pain and duress of its writer in an honest and embraceable manner. What differentiates “Lopsided” from the others, though, is Meredith’s dark sense of both humour and self and her ability to articulate these things in manner that gives Douglas Coupland worthy competition in the character department. What differentiates Meredith Norton from Douglas Coupland, though, is her character is herself, not a creation of a writer’s mind.
Is this book flawless or as laugh-out-loud funny as acclaimed to be? No. Meredith is not a author. She’s a cancer victim who authored a book about her own experiences. There’s quite a bit of “filler” - some of which supports the story directly or indirectly, some of which does not. Despite this, “Lopsided” is a hugely worthwhile read and one you’ll appreciate, regardless of your tie to the disease.
“I have cancer.”
“That explains your lame-ass party.”
Thus it goes when Meredith Norton tells her best friend Rebecca about her recent diagnosis.
“Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can be Really Distracting” is Meredith Norton’s acclaimed memoir of her time in life as a young wife and mother living with her husband, Thibaut, in Paris and while on a trip back to the States to see family and friends is diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. Earth shattering? Well of course. But life (and impending death) is only as good as you see it - and Ms. Meredith’s vision is fantastically distorted. Like each and every “my name is [insert name here] and I have cancer” book, “Lopsided” communicates the challenges, struggles, fears, pain and duress of its writer in an honest and embraceable manner. What differentiates “Lopsided” from the others, though, is Meredith’s dark sense of both humour and self and her ability to articulate these things in manner that gives Douglas Coupland worthy competition in the character department. What differentiates Meredith Norton from Douglas Coupland, though, is her character is herself, not a creation of a writer’s mind.
Is this book flawless or as laugh-out-loud funny as acclaimed to be? No. Meredith is not a author. She’s a cancer victim who authored a book about her own experiences. There’s quite a bit of “filler” - some of which supports the story directly or indirectly, some of which does not. Despite this, “Lopsided” is a hugely worthwhile read and one you’ll appreciate, regardless of your tie to the disease.
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May 16, 2016In an half-hearted attempt to look at other cancer memoirs (everyone who gets cancer turns around and writes a book, just like me), I came across this one. I'm not doing a lot of reading on cancer. In fact, I'm doing frightfully little. My "dip" into the literature is scanty at best--but this one looked interesting.
Then I looked up the author, and discovered she had died in 2013--five years after the book came out in 2008. I really stopped, unsure I'd read her memoir. But I tried a few pages anyway.
I was instantly in love. She was doing what I really want to do: using her cancer as a vehicle to write awesome stuff. She had talent, wit, humor. I loved it. Strong, strong voice. A book on cancer that isn't really about cancer.
Alas, it got a little tiresome. The end didn't amount to much (though how does one end a memoir on cancer?). Her humor, which had a nice bite, got a smidgen too biting. The flashbacks, too, which were so funny were intermingled a bit clumsily.
That said, I think it's my favorite cancer book so far, precisely because she was a writer first and a dying woman third or fourth or fifth. I really love stories about the mingling of cultures, and this one is the strongest when she talks about being a black woman from America married to a white man from France.
Which brings me to her surviving husband. I'd love to talk to him for my book. Thibault, if you're reading this, contact me. I'm sorry for your loss. Really so very sorry.
Then I looked up the author, and discovered she had died in 2013--five years after the book came out in 2008. I really stopped, unsure I'd read her memoir. But I tried a few pages anyway.
I was instantly in love. She was doing what I really want to do: using her cancer as a vehicle to write awesome stuff. She had talent, wit, humor. I loved it. Strong, strong voice. A book on cancer that isn't really about cancer.
Alas, it got a little tiresome. The end didn't amount to much (though how does one end a memoir on cancer?). Her humor, which had a nice bite, got a smidgen too biting. The flashbacks, too, which were so funny were intermingled a bit clumsily.
That said, I think it's my favorite cancer book so far, precisely because she was a writer first and a dying woman third or fourth or fifth. I really love stories about the mingling of cultures, and this one is the strongest when she talks about being a black woman from America married to a white man from France.
Which brings me to her surviving husband. I'd love to talk to him for my book. Thibault, if you're reading this, contact me. I'm sorry for your loss. Really so very sorry.
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