"Read this book -- it has something to teach us all."

Reviews of Ordinary Life: A Memoir of Illness

At last a journal about a devastating illness that seeks neither to ennoble nor to inspire....Burdened with anger, depression and, finally, utter despair, [Ms. Conway] wrote this direct and unsentimental account of her ordeal when cancer had overtaken her life....Precisely because the author is so unsparingly honest in her self-appraisal, the reader will find her often shrewish, uncompromising and demanding. And, for exactly the same reason, we come away in the end feeling, if not affection, than at the very least an abiding respect."


Incredible in its steely look at life and death, Kathlyn Conway's book achieves the writer's essential task, putting her experience into unyielding, unforgettable prose."


It reads like a novel, but Kathy Conway's journal of three cancers is the smartest kind of self-help; it gives us permission to be wise or whiney, strong or self-indulgent, whatever it takes to get through the dark nights of chemo and dread."


You've never read a book about cancer quite like this....Ordinary Life is at times frightening in its honesty--but it is written by a person who loves life and knows how to enjoy it. Read this book--it has something to teach us all."


Ordinary Life is a brave book...the kind of journey so many, many women are living through--with spirit, heart and courage--with vision and in community."


Her first-rate storytelling aside, Ms. Conway's memoir is about the profound suffering of what is, after all, a routine medical event--limited breast cancer. If there is one thing that her extraordinary narrative can teach us, it is compassion for those whose suffering overwhelms them, whose suffering makes them into people they would rather not be."


Return to the Main Page; Recent Reviews of Ordinary Life; The Mammography Debate; Read an Excerpt of Ordinary Life; Information on The Race for the Cure;


©1997, ProMotion, inc.

www@bookpage.com