WHY DIDN'T I NOTICE HER BEFORE?
a memoir about dying to live
by Beth Cramer
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Aug 11 2019 | Archive Date Jun 08 2020
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Description
Irreverent, painfully honest and often hilarious, Why Didn’t I Notice Her Before? is a beautifully observed memoir that finds courage and humor in the face of undefeatable odds.
A New York film editor explores how a cancer diagnosis has changed her outlook on life, asking "will an illness as serious as this teach me that I no longer need to fix things, and can I finally release my grip and get on with living?”
The author has a rare talent for mining small, but lasting lessons—whether reflecting on the host of new parenting concerns that come with her diagnosis or weighing the dueling emotions she feels towards an overly attentive family. And the windows into her marriage are touching reminders that the coupling of any two personalities is bound to cause some feather ruffling, friction and emotional dissonance.
Cramer's writing is characterized by an eagle-eyed search for positivity: "Fuck it. I want to live my life, not spend time making legacy boxes of my unfinished one." For the author, this statement is an act of personal catharsis, but her message has an inspirational universality.
Advance Praise
"""This keenly observed memoir delicately balances humor and heartache while signaling the importance of each passing moment. A profoundly moving remembrance that's alternately sad and uplifting."" - KIRKUS REVIEW
""I applaud Beth’s refusal to be cancer’s role model. But hope she’s okay being a literary one. New York is filled with wanna-be authors and their imagined books. But here’s someone who sat down and wrote hers, despite (or because of) hugely challenging circumstances.
Her personal recounting reveals the universal truth that ""appreciating life"" is complicated. Making her debut as effective as anything else I read last year."" - Jason McKee WIRED
""Beth tells her story so quietly and intimately, as though you are sitting across from her. Regret, rumination, release, love and a reality that hangs heavy in the air and all at once floats light as feather. This memoir broke my heart and broke my heart wide open."" - Rose Marie Bressan"
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781733375207 |
| PRICE | $9.99 (USD) |
Links
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Reviewer 657616
Touching and heartbreaking.
This is the story of a women’s experience with the suddenness of cancer. When Beth Cramer is diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer, she is shocked and saddened. She is a mother and a wife to her husband and kids and feels a profound sadness for them. This book touches on the heartbreak cancer causes. I, at times, found it extremely difficult to read because of my own experiences with cancer. It brought me back to the sadness I felt for my family member when they were diagnosed. So, I do want to warn others about the potential anxiety this book can cause. However, this story is raw and real and feels like it will stick with you long after you’ve turned the last page.
4 stars.
MegAnn M, Reviewer
I reviewed this book for NetGally and This is a novel that will have you in tears, in laughter and realizing that as women when the need is there we are stronger than we ever thought we could be. We put guilt on ourselves and live with it year after year even though we can not change the past. It is a story about forgiveness, acceptance and being grateful for what you do have not for what has been lost to you. We are all afraid of disease but when we get a diagnosis we must either stand up and fight because we want our family to have us as long as possible or we can just lie down and give up. Women don't give up and this book shows like so many women I know that we may not give up for ourselves but because we have a child that needs us, a husband that needs us, family that needs us. Would we make those same choices if it was just us out there. Many women have that decision to make. Live or go peacefully into the unknown. What would you do. After reading Beth Cramer's book I am still not sure which way I would go although I am much older than she was. She takes us through the ups and downs, the doctors say nothing really talk, and having to listen to everyone's advice even though they are not going through it. Are we allowed to get angry, are we allowed to just be by ourselves at times or is everything supposed to be around those who need you. This is a must read book for women of all ages.
Erica G, Reviewer
The author writes in a compelling manner. It made me laugh and cry at various points, but what the author does best is bring up points that those that contemplate death rarely consider or write about. It is at those points that one stops reading and ponders and think through your own thoughts and feelings about situations considered. The characters in the book come alive and it seems you were a member of the family going through what the author and family experienced.
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