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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
Gilda's on-again off-again on-again fight with cancer. How she coped, how she fought and how those around her made it possible.
Wasn't particularly tear-inducing, nor was it funny. But a lot of insight into the personal battle with cancer.
Wasn't particularly tear-inducing, nor was it funny. But a lot of insight into the personal battle with cancer.
Love her! The only reason I didn't give it more stars was because I wasn't expecting it to be about her fight with cancer. I thought it would be more of an autobiography. Simply heartbreaking to know the ending, when she herself doesn't.
I read Gilda Radner's memoir over Thanksgiving break last year while I was in and out of visiting family members. To say Gilda's story was my companion during the holiday ordeal would be suitable. She was a great human with a greater heart. It's a shame that doctors didn't believe in her illness when she believed it was taking over her life.
"It is so hard for us little human beings to accept this deal that we get. It's really crazy, isn't it? We get to live, then we have to die.... What spirit human beings have!"
Gilda Radner's spirit shines through in this frank memoir about her battle with cancer. Sadly, the book was published the same year she died.
Gilda Radner's spirit shines through in this frank memoir about her battle with cancer. Sadly, the book was published the same year she died.
I don't cry over books often, but I was welling up at LEAST 3 times in this book. I also laughed a ton, and now I want to go watch everything Radner has ever done.
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Medical content
It's Always Something is Gilda Radner's only book that she wrote while battling with ovarian cancer in the mid-late 1980s before she succumbed to the disease and died in May 1989. The book chronicles her beginning stages of married life with husband Gene Wilder (famous for movies like Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles), finding out she had ovarian cancer, battling the cancer with various methods and doctors (some methods and are questionable to their legitimacy). The title, It's Always Something was a phrase her father would often say. Radner's father died of a brain tumor when she was only 12 years old.
I have to say the Radner was honest and raw when she wrote this book. She didn't hide very much from us. She had constant (really, constant) mood swings, threw horrible temper tantrums, was heavily depressed and not leave her bedroom or eat for days, become jealous when she watched other comedians performs on TV, etc. If you are looking for juicy celebrity gossip you are looking in the wrong book. Radner set out to write about her journey ... battling cancer, not her private life with other celebrities.
The writing style of the book isn't quite elegant, timelines and scenes seemed randomized but Radner this was her first and only book after all.
Everyone seems to the think the quote below is the memorable line from this book.
I think the next line, the final line of the memoir speaks louder however. To me this sums up (while using another story) Radner's battle with cancer.
Who would I recommend this book to. Easily to those who are dealing with any type of cancer or who have a loved one with cancer. It will help you a great deal, I think. Even though this is in no way a self-help book, you can see what someone with cancer is going through first-hand. If you have any interest in Gilda Radner, have ever laughed at one of her jokes, I'd suggest picking this up to get to know her life a little bit better.
I have to say the Radner was honest and raw when she wrote this book. She didn't hide very much from us. She had constant (really, constant) mood swings, threw horrible temper tantrums, was heavily depressed and not leave her bedroom or eat for days, become jealous when she watched other comedians performs on TV, etc. If you are looking for juicy celebrity gossip you are looking in the wrong book. Radner set out to write about her journey ... battling cancer, not her private life with other celebrities.
The writing style of the book isn't quite elegant, timelines and scenes seemed randomized but Radner this was her first and only book after all.
Everyone seems to the think the quote below is the memorable line from this book.
"I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
Delicious Ambiguity."
I think the next line, the final line of the memoir speaks louder however. To me this sums up (while using another story) Radner's battle with cancer.
"When I was little Dibby's cousin had a dog, just a mutt, and the dog was pregnant. I don't know how long dogs are pregnant, but she was due to have her puppies in about a week. She was out in the yard one day and got in the way of the lawn mower, and her two hind legs got cut off. They rushed her to the vet and he said, "I can sew her up, or you can put her to sleep if you want, but the puppies are okay. She'll be able to deliver the puppies."
Dibby's cousin said, "Keep her alive."
So the vet sewed her backside and over the next week the dog learned to walk. She didn't spend any time worrying, she learned to walk by taking two steps in the front and flipping up her backside, and then taking two steps and flipping up her backside again. She gave birth to six little puppies, all in perfect health. She nursed them and then weaned them. And when they learned to walk, they all walked like her."
Who would I recommend this book to. Easily to those who are dealing with any type of cancer or who have a loved one with cancer. It will help you a great deal, I think. Even though this is in no way a self-help book, you can see what someone with cancer is going through first-hand. If you have any interest in Gilda Radner, have ever laughed at one of her jokes, I'd suggest picking this up to get to know her life a little bit better.
