Customer Reviews

Most Of Me: Surviving My Medical Meltdown

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robyn writes with frank honesty concerning her medical problems but always with a sense of humor. She takes the reader through her illnesses and shares with us her journey as she learns to cope with the reality of her condition. This book reflects Robyn's bravery and the closeness of her family. This book is highly readable and a must for anyone facing difficult life issues. We have recommended it to many friends and relatives.

I first heard of Robyn Levy in a CBC radio interview with herself and her father discussing the trials and tribulations of living with Parkinson's Disease. Both Robyn and her father have Parkinson's and in addition Robyn has had to deal with breast cancer. Despite a medical history that would cripple most of us Robyn's enthusiastic, and above all humorous, approach to dealing with medical uncertainly has led to her writing this book. I ordered it right away.

It's unusual that a book affects me in such a profound manner however Robyn writes with fierce honesty and a seriously deranged but delicious wit. The prose alternates between the realities of having serious medical problems and her very funny reactions to dealing with the enormity of the situation. I found the book a page turner and read the book in virtually one sitting.

I could go on and on describing a very readable and enormously satisfying book that will appeal to a wide range of readers but don't want to give away any of the juicy bits.

Brett

All page- turners have something that pulls you along. The thread that tugs throughout Robyn Michele Levy''s book ' Most of Me -- is its engaging authenticity. Robyn''s stories occupy that universal zone of mixed emotions where you can''t help laughing and crying at the same time. This book does not leave you with the detached wonder of how someone could ever cope with these two diseases; ' instead, it transports you to a place where you experience the real possibility of creating an unconventional response to otherwise daunting obstacles. While the supporting roles of the Canadian medical system, family and an expansive web of friendships are evident throughout, it is Robyn''s artful mix of honesty and imagination that gives you the feeling you are accompanying her on a playful, painful journey.

There is no other book like this one, but then, there is only one Robyn Levy. Most of Me had me simultaneously laughing, tearing up, in awe of the unselfconscious honesty, and cheering on the author. A woman who has mastered the art of living one day at a time, because she both had to and chooses to, who takes the reader through her struggles and her learning process with clarity and a humour that simply has to be read to be appreciated. It is rare that a book can convey such emotional depth... Yet still be screamingly, wet your pants funny. A true must-read, from start to finish. A very impressive debut, and i will be first in line for her next book.

Sometimes, laughter is the only way to deflect despair. Robyn Michelle Levy knows it from personal experience. Her memoir Most of Me is simultaneously amusing and poignant. From the first word, the story pulled me in and never let go, and the pages practically turned themselves. But it was a harrowing read, too, because of the subject matter: a serious, life-altering illness. Or rather two of them at once.

With poise, candor, and self-deprecating humor, Levy writes about her medical plight. At the age of 43, she was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's. Eight months later, while still reconciling her debilitating affliction, she added breast cancer to her list of maladies. So far, she has won both battles.

Her memoir covers several years before and after her diagnoses. The book starts with 'before,' when the author struggled with her deteriorating health and bouts of depression without knowing why. Her immediate family'husband and teenage daughter'were often on the receiving end of her black moods, and afterwards, she was swamped by remorse. Then the bomb of Parkinson's exploded in her face.

Throughout the book, Levy is relentlessly honest, as she chronicles her seething cauldron of emotions: anger and guilt, shame and acceptance, terror of impending diapers and determination to survive. She also details the support and affection she received from her friends and family during her arduous medical journey. In a way, the book is a tribute to her loved ones, although the writing never slides towards melodrama. Funny asides and droll observations keep the narrative balanced on a tasteful line between mushy and tragic.

One of the grimmest problems the author faced after each of her two diagnoses was how to tell her thirteen-year-old daughter. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that Levy's father was diagnosed with Parkinson's a couple years before. She writes: "We're in the same sinking boat now: daughters coping with parents who have Parkinson's. Under these circumstances, how can anything be OK? How can we get through this together, when I'm falling apart?"

Tears sprang to my eyes when I read those and similar lines. But more often than not, a morbid joke was only one step behind. Laughter and gentle self-mockery permeate the book. No dysfunction of the writer's ailing body is off-limits to her irreverent keyboard, even when breast cancer piles on top of Parkinson's. In her bleakest moments, humor sparkles, as she describes her recovery after mastectomy; outlines her wrestling with the question: chemo or no chemo; or tells us about naming her prosthetic breast Dolores. "If I don't laugh I would cry," she writes.

The same applies to me, as a reader. If I didn't smile so often while reading the book I would've cried too. Books about illnesses are always emotionally draining, and this one was no exception. I wanted to protect myself from the author's pain, but even more I wanted to understand how she found the strength to deal with her "diverse disease portfolio." I read the book, and grinned, and chuckled, and learned from Levy's courage.

Definitely recommended to anyone.

by Olga Livshin
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

An incredible book - touched my heart and changed my life in ways I can not explain. I would recommend this book to everyone regardless of who they are; Robyn Levy has a way of connecting with the reader on every emotional level.

This is a "must read" for every person from teens to seniors. It is informative, funny, sad, and beautifully written. And have it on your bookshelf, 'cause you may want to read it again. It deserves a wide readership.