Please leave a comment if you can… (you can do it anonymously if you like)
This novel breaks a lot of ‘rules’ about what fiction is supposed to be like, and it deals with very provocative and emotionally loaded material, so I would love your feedback and comments, no matter how short.
I’d also really appreciate if you could help create a context for Maddie’s story by sharing something of your own experience with cancer or any serious illness. This can be personal, professional, first- or second- hand.
so here’s a few questions:
Have you used alternative therapies, like Maddie? Or know someone who has? How did this work out?
Or have you used conventional therapies for cancer (or complementary, or integrative)? Would you do this again?
Would you want to read more of a novel like this?
…Or please just comment in any way you like. And feel free to leave your own links.
(Note: you don’t have to have a google account, just ignore that part when you click on the comments link below… You can even leave an anonymous message. And you can return here at any time by clicking on ‘comments’ in the sidebar.)
Or you can send your feedback straight to me: Just put ‘Art of Peace’ in the subject line (so it doesn’t get zapped by the junk filter), and email to:
Thanks so much for reading, and double thanks for your comments!
Hi Beth – After our conversation on Wednesday night I have had a couple of conversations with girlfriends of mine and, as you said, the verdict is mixed in regard to chemo versus (competitive word) natural solutions – but, after a good long conversation each time, all said that the book would be a good thing – to at least have the information you have sourced out there.
I’m so glad I got the chance to read these excerpts of your book! I really liked your references to the Vietnam War and Aikido in relation to the treatment of cancer and perhaps you could even expanded a little more to the analogy of the war e.g.poison, hidden tunnels etc as I hadn’t ever thought about it in those terms before. That is so not a criticism as I am amazed how well (and easily it seems) you write. I liked the dreams and how you added in the things about Napoleon etc as well as the references to the underwear. You took me back, too, to my teen years – that picture of the little girl did resonate around the world. I have to say that I was a teenager in love at the time, so I didn’t think of her in quite the same personal way as you did – more shame on me.
There is a lot of information about the chemo but I don’t know that you could really drop anything – it is all really relevant.
Anyway – thanks again for sharing (baring) your passions.
xxxx Kay
Thanks so much Kay for reading these extracts and for your thoughtful comments. Yes it is a very tricky subject to write about, and I certainly do not expect everyone to agree with Maddie. But it would be great if there was more discussion and choice about treatments, and that people like Maddie could be as supported as those who choose the more conventional (and more funded) route. It’s a tough decision and journey, whichever way you go.