cover image Seeing the Crab: A Memoir of Dying

Seeing the Crab: A Memoir of Dying

Christina Middlebrook. Basic Books, $22 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-465-07493-8

In 1991, Middlebrook, a Jungian therapist in San Francisco, was diagnosed with premenopausal breast cancer and, after a mastectomy, told she had a 50% chance of living two years. In this spare and honest memoir, the author details the physical and emotional rigors of the treatment she has undergone, including radiation, high-dose chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant after the cancer reoccurred in her spine. Middlebrook ably conveys her resentment toward those who present a relentlessly upbeat attitude and refuse to recognize her feelings. Although the author's husband, children and good friends are loving and supportive, her mother and sister, who always shied away from closeness, are unable to provide comfort. At present diagnosed with stage-IV cancer (""inevitably fatal""), Middlebrook accepts, with both anger and candor, that her death from cancer is inevitable-while striving to keep as much richness in her remaining time as possible. (Apr.)