26 January 2015

Review #131: How to Climb the Eiffel Tower by Elizabeth Hein





My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“You can see a person's whole life in the cancer they get.”
                                                  ----Haruki Murakami, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Elizabeth Hein, an American writer, who herself being a cancer survivor, crafts an edgy and inspiring contemporary story about fighting cancer and making new friends on the road to fighting cancer, in her new book, How to Climb the Eiffel Tower .

Synopsis:
Lara Blaine believes that she can hide from her past by clinging to a rigid routine of work and exercise. She endures her self-imposed isolation until a cancer diagnosis cracks her hard exterior. Lara’s journey through cancer treatment should be the worst year of her life. Instead, it is the year that she learns how to live. She befriends Jane, another cancer patient who teaches her how to be powerful even in the face of death. Accepting help from the people around her allows Lara to confront the past and discover that she is not alone in the world. With the support of her new friends, Lara gains the courage to love and embrace life. Like climbing the Eiffel Tower, the year Lara meets Jane is tough, painful, and totally worth it.


This is the story of Lara Blaine, who keeps herself isolated from her past demons (sexual abuse survivor) under the rigorous routine of work and exercise. Among her many exercise regime, one of them is "climbing the Eiffel Tower", since she is mortified to climb the actual tower. But soon, Lara is diagnosed with cervical cancer, and thus begins a new found journey to find herself, to trust someone, to overcome her fears and to make new friends like Jane, another cancer patient.

Footnote: This book is not at all sad and depressing compared to other cancer stories, instead this book is funny, light-hearted, layered with witty cynicism.

Firstly, being a fictional book, the accounts of a cancer patient like Lara are very much real and vivid, mostly because the author wrote it from her personal experience. But that doesn't make the book a wee bit of sad, moreover, the author addressed all the issues with enough sensitivity and compassion.

The characters are really striking, especially the protagonist, Lara who is strong and focused, but also lived a life in fear. She is a victim of sexual abuse from her step-father, though she managed to get away from the pain, but she lived in constant fear, by keeping herself away from the society, in short, she was suffering from trust issues. Moreover, when she wad diagnosed she was determined not to let anyone come and help her or even let anyone know about her illness. Jane happens to be the perfect companion on Lara's road to fighting cancer. Jane helps Lara to embrace her illness to fight her social issues, moreover, Jane's warmth makes Lara learn to trust once again. The author created this key character so beautifully that her sketch will remain etched onto our minds for a very long time. In fact, the Lee family sounds real and loving! Since the author have intricately crafted her characters thus slowing down the pace of the book, but that's not a bad thing, since it helped us to enrich our minds about the depth of the characters, especially Lara and her reasons to behave in such a strange way.

The narrative style of the author is light and clear and the prose is very free-flowing layered with funny antidotes and snarky comments, thus keeping us glued to the very heart of the story. It is not any thrilling story that will keep you on your edges, but Lara's journey on the road to not only fighting cancer but also rediscovering herself keeps us gripped till its very end.

All the accounts of Cancer are very much real and it is described with lots of love and patience and written in a way that will definitely bewitch our minds and hearts. I never though Cancer books can be this much witty and wonderful.

Verdict: A must read Cancer book that doesn't leave any tears on your eyes out of pain or sadness.

Courtesy: Thanks to the author, Elizabeth Hein, for providing me with a copy of her book, in return for an honest and unbiased review. 
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Author Info:
Elizabeth Hein is a writer, mom, coffee snob and cancer survivor. She writes women’s fiction with a bit of an edge. Her books explore the role of friendship in women's lives. 
Although she lives in North Carolina, she still thinks of herself as a Massachusetts girl. She misses eating lobster near the cool beaches of Cape Cod, yet have come to appreciate a lively pig pickin' on a hot afternoon.
Visit her here

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2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the lovely review, Adit. I'm so glad you connected with Lara and Jane.

    ReplyDelete

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