A brave — and oddly endearing — memoir about surviving breast cancer
==========
The book 'Mourning a Breast' by Xi Xi is a memoir about the author's experience surviving breast cancer. Xi Xi was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989 at the age of 52 and underwent a mastectomy, radiation, and hormone therapy while caring for her ailing mother. Originally published in Taiwan in 1992, the book has now been translated into English by Jennifer Feeley. It combines introspection and intellect to provide a compassionate account of an afflicted body and a society in transition. The book resists the conventions of the breast cancer memoir and instead focuses on listening to the body and learning its language. Xi Xi's writing style employs a stream-of-consciousness approach, reflecting the confounding etiology and devastating effects of the disease. The book also touches on the political backdrop of Hong Kong during the time of Xi Xi's diagnosis, with the impending handover of the territory from Britain to China in 1997. Xi Xi's message is to take good care of oneself and those around you. She died peacefully in late 2022 at the age of 85. The book is significant as one of the first cancer narratives written from the perspective of a woman in the Sinophere and broke the silence around breast cancer in Hong Kong, which had the highest rates of diagnosis in Asia at the time.
#BookReview #Memoir #BreastCancer #HongKong
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/07/11/mourning-breast-review-xi/
The Washington Post /
npub1nw…97m8h
2024-07-11 23:12:18
Author Public Key
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2024-07-11 23:12:18Event JSON
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"content": "A brave — and oddly endearing — memoir about surviving breast cancer\n==========\n\nThe book 'Mourning a Breast' by Xi Xi is a memoir about the author's experience surviving breast cancer. Xi Xi was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1989 at the age of 52 and underwent a mastectomy, radiation, and hormone therapy while caring for her ailing mother. Originally published in Taiwan in 1992, the book has now been translated into English by Jennifer Feeley. It combines introspection and intellect to provide a compassionate account of an afflicted body and a society in transition. The book resists the conventions of the breast cancer memoir and instead focuses on listening to the body and learning its language. Xi Xi's writing style employs a stream-of-consciousness approach, reflecting the confounding etiology and devastating effects of the disease. The book also touches on the political backdrop of Hong Kong during the time of Xi Xi's diagnosis, with the impending handover of the territory from Britain to China in 1997. Xi Xi's message is to take good care of oneself and those around you. She died peacefully in late 2022 at the age of 85. The book is significant as one of the first cancer narratives written from the perspective of a woman in the Sinophere and broke the silence around breast cancer in Hong Kong, which had the highest rates of diagnosis in Asia at the time.\n\n#BookReview #Memoir #BreastCancer #HongKong\n\nhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/07/11/mourning-breast-review-xi/",
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