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Book Club: I’m Just A Person, Chapter 7

young adult cancer book club

Welcome to the comments and discussion of Chapter 7: Largo of the book, I’m Just A Person by Tig Notaro! Catch up on Chapter 1: Over My Mother’s Dead BodyChapter 2: Are You My Mother, Chapter 3: The Downfall, Chapter 4: Saying Good-Bye, Chapter 5: Letting Go, and Chapter 6: Diagnosis.

Let’s get started!  Chapter 7!

Mallory:

“My biggest problem with being called brave was that I felt undeserving.  I didn’t choose to get cancer or to handle it in any particular way.  It seemed that what people were calling courageous was simply the fact that I happened to still be breathing.”

Oh.M.G.  Yes.

I know Tig seems surprised by her cancer-dominated, comedic routine’s success, but I’m not.  Good comedy is one thing.  Comedy that embraces hurt and pain, yet is still accessible and funny, now that is an entirely different thing altogether.  Real vulnerability is rare, even in our era of reality television.  She tackled something huge in that routine…the boundaries of health and illness, challenging what we consider “sick” to “look like.”  Powerful stuff.

Have you heard her Live album?

Thanks for joining us for Chapter 7: Largo of I’m Just A Person!  Join in next Monday for Chapter 8: Looking Down.

If you’re just joining us, here are some logistics:

We will talk about a chapter each Monday until the book is done.  Then, we’ll use one more Monday to talk about general feelings from the book and anything else you’d like to discuss.  Join in, in the comments every week!  At the end, we’ll have a book club discussion via video chat!  Also, there will probably be spoilers.  Read along with us!

How are you enjoying our young adult cancer book club?