When freelance writer Fies finds out his mother has both lung cancer and a brain tumor, her attempts to fight the disease—including rounds of radiation and chemotherapy—pull her entire family into the struggle. Fies is gentle but honest in telling his story. He refrains from painting his mother as a saint, depicting her instead as someone getting through a horrible situation by refusing to acknowledge just how bad it is. Nor does he shy away from the more complicated emotions his mother's health generates, including a sometimes heated rivalry with his two sisters (knowledgeable "Nurse Sis" and empathetic "Kid Sis"). Fies is most compelling when he finds insight in small details unique to his mother's experience, such as the strength she draws from a leather purse her father made while confined in a tuberculosis sanitarium. The clean, simple comic-strip quality of Fies's art fits the story perfectly, highlighting the gravity of the situation while cutting away undue sentimentality. Mom's Cancer is a quiet, courageous account of one family's response to a universal situation.(Apr.)
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Knowing that there are other people who are part of a family similar to yours who have to deal with illness to the best of their ability. It is a great comfort to read and find out that others are going through the same things you are, especially reading the honest feelings of the family.

The honesty that the book was written with. The author didn't try to make anyone seem better or more vailient than they really were. He illustrated honest the family's honest feelings, even their frustration and annoyance toward each other and their mother as they tried to get through the hard times.

How short it was. The illustrations were so good and the story so gentle, entrancing, and at points humorous, that you keep on wanting to read despite the dark subject of having to deal with cancer.

Get closer to my family and realize that while no one is perfect, they are your family and will always be there for you.

Sad yet content. The story itself is basically the story about the mother's struggle to stay alive as long as she can and yet Fies manages to write it so elequently that it takes the edge off of the morbidity.

Is an honest and endearing character. It is interesting that he chose to write the book from his perspective and open himself and all of his feelings to the eyes of the reader.

It is a wonderful read and had really good illustrations. If you don't know, it's a graphic novel. It is also just a great and honest telling of something that every family has had or will have to go through at one point in their lifetime. Also, as hardcover books go, it's not that expensive!

I have no reasons for not recommending this book. Sorry...

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Created May 03, 2006 at 1:40am • Submit your own review...