The Adventures of Cancer Bitch
15th Anniversary Edition
NoW in paperback
“virtuosic...poignant…” — Salon
The
Bitch
is
back
S.L. Wisenberg, known for writing that is “seriously funny,” proves in this acerbic chronicle that a cancer diary
can be at once hilarious, rageful, and feminist.
She passes through the expected rites of breast cancer—diagnosis, surgery, and chemotherapy—but her
responses are less expected: she throws a farewell party for her left breast, and rejects a “cranial prosthesis” in
favor of using her bare scalp as a canvas for political messages. She insightfully criticizes the ad campaigns of
cancer charities, the inept medical staff, and the inequities in the U.S. health care system she encounters as she
navigates daily life with cancer and chemo. (There is much she disapproves of, from Brazilian waxes to books
that blame patients for their own diseases.) Drawing on a wealth of personal, literary, and historical sources,
The Adventures of Cancer Bitch creates an indelible image of a politically engaged, self-aware woman facing a
daunting disease while examining her soul and society. (And riding the subway and teaching one-breasted.) It’s
a thought-provoking memoir from a woman who questions everything and everyone, including herself.
On the New
Edition
“Required reading.” — Chicago Reader
“The re-issuing of S.L. Wisenberg's groundbreaking should-be-classic The Adventures of Cancer Bitch is cause for much dark-humored, intelligent
celebration among dark-humored, intelligent people everywhere whose lives have been impacted by cancer. Into a sea of earnestness, battle
metaphors, and euphemisms came Wisenberg's straight talking, artfully constructed memoir, contributing to a changing landscape of how we talk
about bodies. Many of us who have traveled the breast cancer path after Wisenberg, pens in hand, owe her a debt.” — Gina Frangello, author of
Blow Your House Down: A Memoir of Family, Feminism, and Treason
“S.L. Wisenberg’s account of her diagnosis, treatment, and lives, before and after, forces her and us into our collective history. Having written well
about the Holocaust, as she has admirably done, suddenly places her account of her illness into a new re-reading of the past, the present, and the
future. Brilliantly written; extraordinarily moving.” — Sander L. Gilman, author of Difference and Pathology
- “Wisenberg brings her serious writing
chops to bear in unflinching
observations on breast cancer, cancer
research, and teaching.” — Library
Journal
What reviewers
are saying
The Adventures of Cancer Bitch is funny, touching, sad, uplifting and informative—all at the same time.”
- —Chicago Tribune
- A frank, funny and insightful account of
one woman's battle with breast cancer.
Wisenberg reveals the realities of life
with cancer and how smarts, style and a
self-deprecating sense of humor help her
fight back against disease.” — Self
Magazine Cancer Resource
"Wisenberg’s prose offers... sassy intelligence,
social conscience, humor, feminist willfulness and
indignation at the stream of reductive corporate
can-do logic and self-help wall-poster language
that patients must endure daily alongside their
cancer.” — Salon
More Kind Words
"The Adventures of Cancer Bitch is witty and relentless, surprising and honest. Wisenberg has
walked through the Valley of Cancer and she is willing to tell all; this is a cornucopia of breast
cancer information as well as a very smart, funny read from an excellent writer."—Audrey
Niffenegger, author, The Time Traveler’s Wife
“Frank, funny, fierce, and at times devastating, Cancer Bitch is a rare achievement. S. L. Wisenberg
has written a book of tremendous value for anyone who has ever had cancer or anyone who has
ever worried about getting it; in short, everyone."— Rachel Schukert, writer, producer, The Baby-
Sitters Club and GLOW
S.L. Wisenberg is a one-breasted feminist born and raised in Texas and now "a Chicago literary icon" (Hypertext magazine). She is the author of The Wandering Womb: Essays in Search of Home, which won the Juniper Prize in nonfiction; a short-story collection, The Sweetheart Is In; and an essay collection, Holocaust Girls: History, Memory, & Other Obsessions. She edits Another Chicago Magazine and has received a Pushcart Prize and has won first place for a story in Narrative Magazine, as well as fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the city of Chicago. The Wandering Womb was a finalist for the CHIRBy (Chicago Review of Books) award in nonfiction. She walks at least four miles daily, mostly at night, and tries to hypnotize wild rabbits. After working as an adjunct instructor all over town, she’s now a writing coach and editor.
About S.l. Wisenberg
More books by S.L. Wisenberg
The Wandering Womb:
Essays in Search of a Home
The Sweetheart Is In: Stories
Holocaust Girls: History, Memory,
and Other Obsessions