Pretty Is What Changes by Jessica Queller

Pretty Is What Changes by Jessica Queller

Faced with the BRCA mutation--the so-called breast cancer gene--one woman must answer the question: When genetics can predict how we may die, how then do we decide to live?
Eleven months after her mother succumbs to cancer, Jessica Queller has herself tested for the BRCA gene mutation. The results come back positive, putting her at a terrifyingly elevated risk of developing breast cancer before the age of fifty and ovarian cancer in her lifetime. Thirty-four, unattached, and yearning for marriage and a family of her own, Queller faces an agonizing choice: a lifetime of vigilant screenings and a commitment to fight the disease when caught, or its radical alternative--a prophylactic double mastectomy that would effectively restore life to her, even as it would challenge her most closely held beliefs about body image, identity, and sexuality.
Superbly informed and armed with surprising wit and style, Queller takes us on an odyssey from the frontiers of science to the private interiors of a woman's life. Pretty Is What Changes is an absorbing account of how she reaches her courageous decision and its physical, emotional, and philosophical consequences. It is also an incredibly moving story of what we inherit from our parents and how we fashion it into the stuff of our own lives, of mothers and daughters and sisters, and of the sisterhood that forms when women are united in battle against a common enemy.
Without flinching, Jessica Queller answers a question we may one day face for ourselves: If genes can map our fates and their dark knowledge is offered to us, will we willingly trade innocence for the information that could save our lives?
Praise for Pretty Is What Changes

By turns inspiring, sorrowful and profoundly moving. Queller's sense of humor and grace transform the most harrowing of situations into a riveting and heartfelt memoir.--Kirkus Reviews

Seamless and gripping. Readers will be rooting for Queller and her heroic decision to confront her genetic destiny.--Publishers Weekly

Jessica Queller gives us a warm, chilling, unflinching look at her personal journey of survival with style. The ending will surprise you. Her prescience is astounding. Her courage is inspirational. Brava Jessica --Marisa Acocella Marchetto, author of Cancer Vixen

Jessica Queller has written for numerous television shows, including Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, Felicity, and One Tree Hill. She lives in New York and Los Angeles.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780385520416
ISBN 10	0385520417
Titel	Pretty Is What Changes
Autor	Jessica Queller
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	Random House USA Inc
Erscheinungsjahr	2009-04-07
Seitenanzahl	272
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.
Hinweis	Nicht verfügbar