|
About the book:
In Sickness & In Health:
A Love Story
by Karen Propp
(from the book jacket)
Karen's poetic command of language and her mature confrontation of the
realities of life, love and long-term marriage make this memoir unusually forceful. The pall of [husband] Sam's first wife's death from cancer, the difficult conception of Karen's and Sam's child, and Sam's seven years of radiation therapy hang over them like an ever-present dark cloud. While cancer memoirs often end with either the patient's death or joyous restoration to pre-cancer existence, here life is saved, but many failed attempts to regain potency (Viagra, a clumsy pump contraption, injections) are described in painful detail. Yet Karen Propp delivers a triumphant story, honestly depicting her adaptation to change and to the discovery of love and resilience's unexpected depths.
-- PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY
Marriage sometimes seems a shaky
proposition at best, particularly when
the honeymoon fades to reality. For Karen
Propp, reality means caring for a husband
who is locked in a bitter struggle with
prostate cancer. In this intimate portrait of a
woman torn between her own strong desires
and the demands of a young son and an
ailing husband, love emerges as the ultimate -- and maybe the only -- answer to the
nagging questions raised by the physical infirmity of a spouse.
Here is the true story of Karen and
Sam, partners in life, for life. But it wasn't
always that way. Before they met, Karen
had been attracted to la vie boheme: poring
over poetry, giving in to her passions,
living for the moment. Sam, following a
strict Jewish upbringing, found his calling,
his comfort, in numbers and logic. Drawn
to each other in a mating dance that proceeds in fits and starts, the two finally tie
the knot; then, between bouts of agonizing uncertainty brought on by Sam's
volatile condition, comes the birth of little
Isaac, a blessing in the midst of the confusion. And yet how can any couple survive
the stress of never-ending medical tests,
outrageously invasive treatments, and the
constant fear of recurrence?
In Sickness and in Health plumbs the sexual
and emotional depths of a relationship
threatened by the specter of illness. It is,
too, a surprisingly candid exploration of the
complex dynamics that can affect any marriage. This daring work shows, with unforgettable clarity, how a woman is truly
transformed in body and soul by the experiences and, finally, by the love that she
shares with those around her.
|
|
