cover image IF YOU COULD HEAR WHAT I SEE: Lessons About Life, Luck, and the Choices We Make

IF YOU COULD HEAR WHAT I SEE: Lessons About Life, Luck, and the Choices We Make

Kathy Buckley, with Lynette Padwa. . Dutton, $23.95 (241pp) ISBN 978-0-525-94611-3

Buckley, the country's first hearing-impaired comedian and now also a motivational speaker, certainly has the story to back up her words. Buckley grew up in a smalltown Ohio family of noncommunicators who somehow neglected to explain to her the fact of her hearing loss (at age eight, "I still assumed everyone heard the same way I did"). Besides one good friend and one good teacher, her youth was replete with misunderstanding and misery. She halfheartedly attempted self-destructive behavior, was run over by a Jeep, found her first real lover and left him after she was diagnosed, at age 27, with cervical cancer. She rejected a second operation—"I decided to take that incredible gift called choice"—and changed her diet and her life, most notably confronting the man who'd molested her as a child. She describes affectingly the experience of finding her first effective hearing aid. Then, two-thirds of the way through her tale, she somewhat surprisingly—as the memoir up to here is more sober than funny—explains that since she'd always used laughter to win people over, she went into comedy and soon added motivational speaking to her performance repertoire. Her message: "get over it and get on with... life." Buckley rebuilds her own relationship with her mother and finds a surrogate family. She urges communication (to break down walls), decries ignorance (which lets people accept unfair labels) and credits God's guidance for putting extraordinary people in her path. Buckley's spirituality might not convince skeptics, but her hard-won victories surely have given her the capacity to see—and point others to—the bright side. (July)

Forecast:Buckley's PBS special will air in August. Audiences know her—she is a five-time Comedy Award nominee and the subject of an Emmy-winning documentary—and her inspirational story should sell well.