Why I Wore Lipstick : To My Mastectomy

Rating:
Summary: I'D GIVE IT 6 STARS IF I COULD!!!
Review: Ms. Lucas manages to convey the roller coaster ride which is diagnosing, treating, and surviving breast cancer with unique wit, intelligence,honesty and humor. She has bared her soul as well as her breast, and imparts important information along the way. This is a must read for anyone who has breast cancer, who had breast cancer, who had a relative or friend with breast cancer, or who fears getting breast cancer which is to say, ALL OF US. It is also a primer for doctors as to how to approach patients. Just being smart isn't enough, as Ms. Lucas makes crystal clear. Although the main focus of the book is breast cancer, I think it has useful information for all current or former cancer patients , their families and friends, and their caregivers. Don't miss this one! Jane A.

Rating:
Summary: When the "It" Girl Gets Cancer
Review: Although I enjoyed the book and read it in one sitting, I feel that since it is nearly a decade removed from the disease that its recollections are way too gauzy. Granted it is well written and humorous: But beware - the author engenders more compliments than a Hollywood startlet. Practically everyone she comes in contact with tells her she is beautiful, foxy, stunning, etc. It it filled with grown men reduced to tears - her surgeon, her high school friend she hasn't seen in years, groups at birthday parties, as if all men that know her can't help but mourn for her marred beauty. Her sex life resumes without missing a beat. She get a promotion during her chemo. Barbara Walters showers her with flowers. She comes in contact with New York City cabbies who are sympathetic to her disease, as only an "It" girl could. It fails to capture the searing lonliness and alienation that most patients with this disease experience. For a more honest account of what cancer is like for a young survivor read Katherine Rich's "Red Devil".

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring and funny. Passionate and intelligent.
Review: Although I knew Geralyn before I read this book, I didn't know she could write! I was happy to discover that her personality illuminates every page. Like the author, "Why I Wore Lipstick" is funny, intelligent, intense, passionate, and thoughtful. Geralyn really does "strip" for us emotionally (a theme in the book), revealing in the most honest way the most painful parts of having breast cancer, including her own fears and insecurities. Sometimes the revelations are heartbreaking, sometimes funny, and often both--as when she worries that her severed breast and nipple will end up in a garbage dump somewhere. She is comforted when her husband tells her it will be preserved in a freezer in a pathology lab, even as she suspects that's a lie. On the surface, concerns about the fate of her detached nipple, whether she should wear lipstick in surgery, and reconstructed boob size seem trivial. But the most trivial concerns always reveal Geralyn's greater fears. As with any good writer, Geralyn mines the small details to share larger truths with her readers.

"Why I wore lipstick" is never depressing, but it is always searingly honest: "I think that Julie is a survivor too, even though she died." Then there is the unique Ger-lingo: "booby mafia," "nipple-nag," and "inner cleavage" that will have you laughing out loud. (You'll have to read the book to find out what it means for a mom to "nipple-nag"...) Although this book will especially inspire women diagnosed with breast cancer, it is in no way limited in appeal. "Why I Wore Lipstick" will move anybody who reads it.

Rating:
Summary: Just Being There
Review: Geralyn Lucas shares a very personal and honest account of her first years dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis. The voice in this book is distinct, strong, honest, heartfelt and holds deep lessons for all of us. Geralyn, who felt intense fears when diagnosed with breast cancer at 27, wrote the book with one intention: To take as much fear away for other women as possible. Just being there for others is what this author wants to instill in all of us.
Frankly, this disease and any trauma is hard to truly learn from -- but Geralyn's story can help all of us see how we can turn an awful experience into something positive for us and others around us.
In full disclosure -- Geralyn Lucas is my best friend. You may think that is why this review is so positive. But, as a breast cancer survivor myself, I have never had a clear thought about my experience -- a thought that could help me make something good come out of this disease -- until I read the Lucas book. Being there for others. Why not? And why not read this book that will certainly change your heart and life.

Rating:
Summary: A Candid Account
Review: Geralyn Lucas writes a thought provoking and candid account of her Cancer experience. She addresses topics that are not addressed in most other accounts - beauty, sexuality, familial tensions. I found the book to be fresh and exciting. Good for her, she wrote what a lot of young cancer patients need to hear.



Rating:
Summary: Normal Girl
Review: I have known Geralyn her whole life and while she may be the "It" girl now, it is b/c she has suffered a heartwrenching disease at a young age. I was with her throughout her ordeal and she cartainly wan't an "It" girl when she was throwing up in cabs, walking around with no hair, feeling alone and fearful where her life was headed. She has done amazing things for young women with cancer and this book is another part of that effort. She is honest and open and approaches a topic that many shy away from with candor and humor. The fact that she may be an "It" girl now is a tribute to her perseverence and positive attitude.

Rating:
Summary: I Had No Idea
Review: I picked up my wife's book, not knowing what it was about. With the title and photo I assumed it to be about dating. As I began reading it became clear to me that this lady was in big trouble.

My mother was in her late forties when she discovered a lump in her left breast. A general practitioner told her she had cancer and must immediately have the breast removed. This was in the sixties. He hacked off her breast and sewed it up in a most crude manner, leaving a hideous scar. I knew what she went through was no picnic, but until reading "Why I wore Lipstick," I had no idea the depths of her despair and suffering.

In the eighties my sister was found to have cancer, and both breasts were removed and then reconstructed. Again, no idea of what she was going through.

Last year my mother again developed cancer, this time in her right breast. She was 85 years old and suffering from dementia.
With the help of my loving wife and hospice we nursed her in my home until her death.

Geralyn's story took me into the physical and psychological depths of her experience. She shared her feelings in a way that I never could have imagined. Her story also gave me insight into the media world. I always assume that those who make it to the top tend to lack compassion and kindness. I am grateful for her helping me to become more sensitive to the afflicted, and for helping dispel my prejudice toward those in high places.

Humility, humor, openness. What an experience!



Rating:
Summary: You Go Girl!
Review: I read the book in one day because it spoke to my heart in many ways...I am young -- a mother and a survivor of breast cancer -- diagnosed at the age of twenty-two. I believe Geralyn's inspirational prose is the birth of courage and hope through a life-changing journey of diagnosis & treatment. I applaud her honesty...Every woman has a story or testimony of perserverance & endurance...Geralyn just happened to be brave enough to write about it...Continue to Let Your Light Shine Girl!

Rating:
Summary: the perfect book
Review: Overall, this book is good. It's funny. It might be inspiring in parts. You could call it realistic and honest. I picked it up to read about 'what it means to be a young girl with cancer in a beauty-obsessed culture'. It's actually the story of what happens when the Perfect Life is tainted with cancer.

There are too many references to that Perfect Life. The author is a name-dropper and talks about all the people she knows and how they contributed to her successful recovery. Barbara Walters sent her flowers. Everyone in the book that she encounters is helpful, supportive, complimentary (even when she's sick & bald from chemo), and lavish with their praise. She does the surgery, the treatment, and the recovery in her Perfect way. At times, it seems that she is more worried about losing her Perfect Husband & Dream Job than her health.

This book might be good to give someone for a laugh or for support with cancer. But please warn them that it takes place in a Hollywood Perfect World.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Life
Review: There is nothing Hollywood about this book. It seems that the two negative comments are from people who resent the love and life Geralyn has. Is it her fault she has friends and family?

Geralyn has the perfect life because she workes hard, studies hard and gives the best of herself to everyone she meets. Dont blame her for how society thinks and acts. Dont blame her for the cards life has dealt her. Look at the bigger picture.... Maybe God wanted people to see that even those with what some view as a perfect life get knocked down and its how you get up that shows character.

I would hope that if you got cancer, people would cry for you too.

Hate the game dont hate the player!