Free Downloads AfterImage: A Brokenhearted Memoir Of A Charmed Life
In this fiercely personal account of her battling the before, and surviving the after, of losing her husband to cancer, Carla Malden takes us on a journey through grief to gratitude that alerts the entire forever-young generation: this is not your mother’s widowhood. AfterImage is a story of love more than loss, memory more than sorrow, life more than death.
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: skirt!; First edition (May 3, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0762763825
ASIN: B008SLDXN4
Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6 x 8.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #3,068,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #81 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Cancer > Colorectal #1515 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > West #4213 in Books > Self-Help > Relationships > Love & Loss
"Afterimage" is a love story on steroids as told by screenwriter Carla Malden. She writes about her husband Laurence's 11-month struggle with colon cancer and his untimely death at age 55. Carla also chronicles her grief during her first year as a young, baby-boomer widow. The book covers a lot of territory and almost reads like a novel. I couldn't put it down even though it's in hardcover. (Where's the e-book?). I lost my own soulmate, Jeri, to ovarian cancer in 2009. She died at age 56. So I can relate to the cancer-fighting part, and I can certainly relate to the grief that follows. Mostly, I can relate to the love story that accompanies "death do us part." This is not a self-help book but it helped me tremendously. Why? Because Carla shared with us something very personal. Her raw account helped me reflect on my own experience with cancer, death, and the subsequent grief. The book helped me fill in some of the missing pieces in this endlessly-complex puzzle. Thank you, Carla.The disease-fighting chapters provide a vivid description of the emotional roller coaster that accompanies late-stage cancer. Carla knows her medical terms and colon cancer treatments. She describes Laurence's surgery and how he dealt with his colostomy. She describes the chemotherapy, the catheter port, and the neuropathy. She hits it on the nail when she writes: "Chemo nurses are a special brand of angels." I can relate with her when she writes: "I am not a caregiver...I am his wife.... I wanted to get back to Laurence's hospital room, in the way that you can think of nothing but returning home to your baby when you leave her with a sitter for the first time...."Carla describes Laurence's agonizing pain at the end. There's no whitewashing.
AfterImage is a brokenhearted memoir of a charmed life.Carla Malden believes she has the perfect world, a husband who adores her, a daughter who is a blessing, a career that shines and great friends and family. Carla and her husband, Laurence Starkman, are a husband-wife combo team who writes screenplays together. They are not only lovers but they are each others best friend. Their only hope in life is to grow old together and watch their children and grandchildren grow.Only, things don't always go the way we wish for them to. On the day that they learn of Laurence's cancer, Carla feels her world has come crashing down around her and she wraps herself in a coat of denial. Following doctors advice, new agers, guru's and any source they can find to make Laurence well and whole, they follow. Every lead, every mention, they make themselves appointments, eat weird things, try different therapies in the hopes that they will cure the cancer so that they can continue along with their idyllic life.After the first surgery and the ensuing chemotherapy that follows, Carla, Laurence and their only daughter, Cami, continue to hope and pray that all will be well. They never stray from any suggestion and they feel they are doing everything right. We watch as Carla goes through the stages of grief, first and foremost, she is in denial, through the better part of the book, Carla has serious difficulties coming to terms with her husband's illness, almost believing that if she just wished hard enough, all will be well. She deals with her anger, at herself, the doctors and Laurence, especially Laurence, who she feels has betrayed her by not living, not trying harder.
Probably one of the most difficult challenges to weather in this life is the loss of someone very close to you and even worse watching them battle for a win in their life against a disease that will ultimately claim them.In the novel After Image by Carla Malden, we get to share in her personal memoir of dealing with the loss of her husband Laurence to cancer at such an early age in their marriage. The story is so touching and real for me because I couldn't imagine a life without my husband in it and it was difficult for me to read Carla's words as she takes us through her journey of dealing with finding out her husband is diagnosed with cancer and the subsequent battle she faced in trying to beat it.Nothing can prepare the reader for Carla's words come through as though you are sitting with a close friend who is walking through her grief. We get to see "snapshots" of Laurence's life so we are getting to know both of them in the process. Carla's memoir is about as real as it comes for anyone who has ever dealt with grief or even facing the unknown turmoils and challenges that cancer can bring. From dealing with all the unknown's going through your mind as you try to search for an answer that may defeat cancer, to walking through the minutes and weeks of chemotherapy hoping against hope that no matter how positive you remain, in the back of your mind doubt and fear still peers it's ugly head.I received this book compliments of Pump Up Your Book for my honest review. This book rates a 5 out of 5 stars for me. It offers a different perspective of dealing with a loss of a loved one so great that you wonder if life will ever be the same again.
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