There’s been a lot written about Melissa Bank and her newest release The Wonder Spot.  The book touched off quite a debate when the NYT, under the guise of a review, took personal shots at the book, Bank and the chick lit genre as a whole.  To anyone reading the petulant and childish diatribe it was clear the reviewer’s opinion formed before ever opening the book.  As a result, many authors and bloggers stepped up to defend Bank.  Hell, even I talked about the book here, but mine predated the brouhaha.

Well, as you would expect, there’s another side to Bank.  She has a short story in the Sunday Washington Post Magazine called Alive On Earth.  It’s a memoir about her battle with breast cancer.  But that was not her only challenge.  While in treatment, she was hit by a car.  She recounts a conversation with her brother when she woke up in the hospital:

‘Let me get this straight - I got hit by a car on my way from cancer treatment?’  I tried to make a joke - I hate slapstick - but I couldn’t remember the word for slapstick.

My other jokes didn’t come out right either:  When the doctor told me that I’d been found 20 feet form the car, I said, ‘Good thing I wasn’t closer.’  Or I thought that’s what I said:  neither the doctor nor my brother registered that I’d spoken.

She lost everything.  She says her mind was "slower" and that she couldn’t remember words.  Speaking was a struggle.  She describes it like this:  "I felt like death was leaning in for a kiss."  For a long time, she couldn’t read or write.  She was afraid and angry.  She thought about death and was convinced she would die.  Try to imagine that.  Try. 

Kind of makes that guy from the NYT seem like an even bigger idiot.  Of course, he managed to look pretty dumb all on his own.  This just highlights the idiocy.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 10th, 2005 at 4:47 am and is filed under About Authors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.