Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
1995 was, for Julia Sweeney, a truly horrible year. She got a divorce (amicable), bought a small bungalow in Hollywood, and looked forward to a life that said, "Here dwells a happily single young woman!" But then the ax fell. Her younger brother Mike was diagnosed with terminal cancer and moved in with her. Her parents came to be with Mike--and moved in with her. Suddenly her tiny bungalow for one was filled to the rafters with Sweeneys. Here she was sleeping on her pull-out sofa bed while her father walked around, his Walkman on all day and her mother marveled at Julia's lack of such staples as stroganoff mixes. Every day was spent bringing Mike to and from chemotherapy, every evening watching "Chicago Hope" or "E.R." Julia was now on seriously intimate terms with the people she had spent half a lifetime growing up away from.Just weeks before Mike died, Julia was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer--what Mike called her "sympathy cancer"--and within days of burying her brother, she underwent a radical hysterectomy, beginning her own journey through "the International House of Cancer." From these Job-like travails, Julia has written a remarkably funny and touching memoir about a family in extremis that manages to persevere with humor, grace, and love.Synopsis
The former "Saturday Night Live" comedienne shares her poignant, hilarious story in this memoir based on her critically aclaimed hit one-woman show.
Publishers Weekly
Known for her characterization of the androgynous "Pat" on Saturday Night Live, Sweeney reached a deeper, more profound mix of pain and humor in her much-praised one-woman show, God Said "Ha." This book presents a slightly amended version of that show, and because it is unlike the theatrical memoir truly fleshed out for print (e.g., Evan Handler's Time on Fire), it helps if readers can conjure up Sweeney's bemused voice in the face of horror. Her story is indeed tragicomic. In 1995, fresh from an amicable divorce, she looked forward to a happy solo life in Hollywood when her beloved younger brother, Mike, was diagnosed with cancer and moved in with her. Then her parents decided to relocate from Spokane, Wash., chez Julia. Her parents are quirky, lovable, insufferable: Mom still can't cope with elevators; Dad is addicted to National Public Radio. As Julia struggles to find hope for her brother, she falls in love and has to "sneak around" for privacy. Finally, she herself is diagnosed with cervical cancer"sympathy cancer," she quips. She survives but Mike doesn't. With wisdom and wit, she emerges with a sense of acceptance for her future childlessness, and, yes, love for her parents. Photos. (June)