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A review by oneoflifeslollopers
Cancer Schmancer by Fran Drescher
4.0
The Nanny is one of my favourite shows and while looking on the internet for a possible release date of the rest of the series on DVD, I stumbled upon some very interesting things about Fran Drescher.
I had heard about this book a few years ago when I was working in a bookstore, but never really given it much thought. But upon learning on the internet that Fran had married her high school sweet heart, been robbed and raped in the same night, told her pride and joy as well as her creation (The Nanny)was being cancelled, separated from her husband and discovered she had cancer I became rather impressed and fascinated.
Fran Drescher is friendly and welcoming, it is a very easy style of writing, and one that instantly creates a feeling of open honesty and closeness. It felt as if I was merely catching up for coffee with a friend and not reading about a complete stranger's life story.
Even more interesting than the events themselves became her analysis of them - achieved through years of therapy - about the good and bad of her marriage. She explains that while she was married she was in her 20's and living like a middle aged couple and in her 40's was living like a young carefree single in her early 20's. Both Fran and her husband's emotional and psychological development was stunted by their marriage, a relationship that became even more codependant after the break in/rape. Her journey through the separation and becoming a single again was more interesting to me than the story of her illness but the entire book was compelling.
The experiences with different doctors and treatments was very interesting and the detail and openness with which she deals with her symptoms, treatment and recovery are endearing and only add to my respect for her.
My one issue was that there was a LOT of complaining. Fran is very humble and acknowledges this as she goes, explaining WHY she had these reactions and let's face it - it took NINE doctors and over two years to find out what was wrong, when a very simple test performed by the first doctor could have cleared it all up. Considering everything she had been through in the past few years, she DID handle it remarkably well but it's a lot to swallow in one day's worth of reading and made me feel rather stressed.
I had heard about this book a few years ago when I was working in a bookstore, but never really given it much thought. But upon learning on the internet that Fran had married her high school sweet heart, been robbed and raped in the same night, told her pride and joy as well as her creation (The Nanny)was being cancelled, separated from her husband and discovered she had cancer I became rather impressed and fascinated.
Fran Drescher is friendly and welcoming, it is a very easy style of writing, and one that instantly creates a feeling of open honesty and closeness. It felt as if I was merely catching up for coffee with a friend and not reading about a complete stranger's life story.
Even more interesting than the events themselves became her analysis of them - achieved through years of therapy - about the good and bad of her marriage. She explains that while she was married she was in her 20's and living like a middle aged couple and in her 40's was living like a young carefree single in her early 20's. Both Fran and her husband's emotional and psychological development was stunted by their marriage, a relationship that became even more codependant after the break in/rape. Her journey through the separation and becoming a single again was more interesting to me than the story of her illness but the entire book was compelling.
The experiences with different doctors and treatments was very interesting and the detail and openness with which she deals with her symptoms, treatment and recovery are endearing and only add to my respect for her.
My one issue was that there was a LOT of complaining. Fran is very humble and acknowledges this as she goes, explaining WHY she had these reactions and let's face it - it took NINE doctors and over two years to find out what was wrong, when a very simple test performed by the first doctor could have cleared it all up. Considering everything she had been through in the past few years, she DID handle it remarkably well but it's a lot to swallow in one day's worth of reading and made me feel rather stressed.