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.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date 11 Aug 2019 | Archive Date 8 Jun 2020
Talking about this book? Use #WHYDIDNTINOTICEHERBEFORE #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
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 | US$9.99 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Gaby V, Reviewer
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.
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.
Readers who liked this book also liked:
