Book Review: After the Fear Come the Gifts

After the Fear Come the Gifts: Breast Cancer’s 9 Surprising Blessings. Kay Metres. Narrated by Brigid Duffy, Julie S. Halpern, Bridget Duffy, and Bill Fike. Audiobook. Produced by Acta Publications, 2019.

Reviewed by Suzanne Brazil.

Clinical psychologist Kay Metres was looking forward to retirement until a suspicious spot turned up on a routine mammogram. In After the Fear Come the Gifts, she shares her journey with breast cancer from diagnosis through treatment and recovery and explains how she can make the audacious claim that cancer arrived bearing gifts. 

The audiobook is arranged in chapters outlining each of the nine titular gifts, beginning with transformation, learning to ask for help, interdependence, surrender, and more, moving through the wide range of emotions and lessons that her diagnosis brought into her life. Each chapter ends with an invitation to consider questions for reflection. 

Metres' realizations and revelations are full of compassion and affirmations that the audience can use, whether dealing with their similar diagnosis or that of a loved one. But perhaps more interestingly, her insights apply to any traumatic experience. It is her specificity that makes the hard-earned wisdom universal. “I was holding a head of red cabbage when the phone rang,” says Metres of the call from her doctor. She goes on to ask the audience, “How did you find out? Were you as overwhelmed and dismayed as I was?”

In each chapter, she shares a bit of her soul, history, imperfections, and personality quirks that make her experience unique. In doing so, she invites the audience to ponder their own reactions, fears, and experiences. For example, she's an introvert who wanted to maintain some semblance of control by keeping the diagnosis private. On the other hand, her husband is an extrovert who needed the support of sharing the information with his wide circle. In sharing the story of their conflict and resolution, she sows the seeds of self-compassion that she later realized as one of her gifts. 

The narrators do a beautiful job of translating the peaceful, encouraging mood that is at times lightened by laughter at an anecdote. Of course, with such a serious subject matter, there are many difficult and necessary bits of information regarding side effects, surgical outcomes, fear of reoccurrence, and more. These topics are tackled head-on but with a warmth and compassion that comes through in the performances.

Metres shares with great honesty about the effects she experienced, including mouth sores, cognitive difficulties, sexual side effects, and, of course, hair loss. She writes that “difficulties taught me new ways to live my life.” From learning to ask for help to realizing how much others appreciate being asked, cancer has provided her with an opportunity for personal growth she may not have had otherwise.

“So much of what happens to us comes out of the dark,” says the author. Anyone going through their own unexpected dark-of-the-night experience, including those with breast cancer diagnoses, should find Metres’ book a welcome guide. 

Book Review: American Oz

American OZ. Michael Sean Comerford | Comerford Publishing LLC; July 18, 2020; hardcover, trade paperback and Kindle, 338 pages.

Reviewed by Dennis Hetzel.

“Immersion journalism” describes journalists who go all-in. That means a 24/7 experience with the subject, keeping only the most tenuous ties with your prior life.

You can’t get more immersive than the assignment that Michael Sean Comerford gave himself to write “American OZ.” 

He left his family in the Chicago suburbs to spend parts of two years joining ten carnivals in 36 states, Canada and Mexico while traveling more than 20,000 miles, most of them logged with a hitchhiker’s thumb. By day, and sometimes through the night, he worked side by side with carnival colleagues. Then he’d slip into a bedbug-infested bunk with his laptop or spend what little money he had to work in the comparative comfort of a booth in an all-night pancake house.

You’ll want to join him on that journey, and the good news is that you can do it without the bedbugs. As others have noted, you’ll see influences of authors as disparate as John Steinbeck, Jack Kerouac, and Hunter S. Thompson. That’s an impressive company. It’s a story filled with eloquence, charm, humor, tragedy, and resonance.

The title is an apt and obvious reference to the “Wizard of Oz” in which the real truth of a fantasy world only emerged from behind the wizard’s curtain. “American OZ” reveals a world few of us see or have spent much time considering beyond bad food, arcades, sketchy looking workers, and rides populated by dating teens and happy kids. Then, overnight, the carnival disappears.

Comerford peels back the carnival curtain. He rejects the cartoon-character stereotypes most of us likely hold of heavily tattooed workers, tossing them into a pejorative bucket called “carnies.” He deftly approaches his new colleagues with fresh eyes and no judgment. In return, they emerge as real people navigating a world that might be unusual but sharing the same hopes, dreams, challenges, setbacks, spunk, and very American aspirations as everyone else. 

It’s an ethnic stew of people who certainly have had anything but lives of privilege, from those trying to stay straight after dealing with prison and drug addiction to single moms and Mexican workers who appreciate the opportunities they have in American carnivals to support families back home.

“The carnival adage goes, ‘Haul it, move it, bolt it, block it, level it’,” he writes, describing the blue-collar symphony of safely moving a carnival from town to town. We learn about barkers, ride jockeys, freak shows, and a few scams – but not as many as you might think. We learn about long hours, low pay, owners who cheat their workers, and owners who care. You’ll see fights and disputes, quiet moments of people caring for each other, and universal appreciation for the joy they see in the faces of the children who attend the shows they’ve erected on empty fields. 

And you’ll never find a group of people with better nicknames. Who wouldn’t want to know more about people with names like Batman, Chunk of Cheese, Confederate Max, Jimmy Tattoos, Randy the Hat, and Uncle Fester?

Comerford’s ability to earn the trust of his colleagues leads him to Tlapacoyan, a remote, dangerous Mexican town that has become home base for many carnival workers. It’s one of the most powerful parts of the book, exposing realities versus the political posturing that occurs around immigration, labor abuse, and what it means to live between two worlds.

The author is a former Pulitzer Prize-nominated international journalist whose bylines have appeared in publications around the world, including the Sun-Times and the Daily Herald in the Chicago area. His wanderlust seems to be part of his DNA. Comerford says he has bicycled across the country three times and hitched across America, Europe, and the Middle East in pursuit of stories. 

In “American OZ,” his discoveries tell a larger story about (usually) good people living on America’s margins and, for many, finding a sense of place in the carnival life. 

Their stories are our stories. After all, aren’t we all trying to get by and make sense of things? For the people in “American OZ,” it’s just more obvious.

Book Review: Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk

Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk. Wayne Turmel. Black Rose Writing, November 19, 2020, Trade Paperback and E-book, 228 pages. 

Reviewed by Jose Nateras.

In Wayne Turmel’s fourth novel, Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk, Turmel explores a cross-section of different genres to create an exciting narrative. This story's main character is Johnny Lupul, a private detective who just so happens to be a werewolf. As his reputation as a P.I. grows, Johnny draws the attention of the sort of clientele that sends him on a hunt for stolen magical relics, putting him squarely in the path of dangers of all kinds.

Turmel manages to thoroughly explore the detective, mystery, supernatural, and horror genre conventions. With some thrilling gore and satisfying werewolf violence, Turmel imbues his storytelling with a sense of humor and edge. Thoroughly leaning into his noir influences, the voice of Johnny is a throwback to the sort of terse, macho private detectives instantly recognizable yet still distinctly unique. Furthermore, Turmel paints a vivid picture of Chicago and the surrounding suburbs. In his descriptions of Johnny’s garden unit apartment and the floor plan of his upstairs neighbor-best-friend-manager, BIll, Turmel effectively paints the picture of a Chicago three-flat, grounding his fantastical narrative in a real and recognizable setting.

While the detective noir genre is a bit old school, Turmel was able to do something new and interesting with it, partly due to the infusion of the magic and horror of werewolves, Egyptian mysticism, Romani traditions, and more. The ways in which these disparate elements work together keep the narrative from being formulaic or overly predictable. 

Overall, Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk manages to take a bunch of old school elements and creates a refreshing fusion of genres with a sharp sense of humor. Fans of werewolves, detective fiction, and the city of Chicago are sure to get a thrill out of Turmel’s latest. One of the more exciting aspects of the book is that it seems like it might be just the beginning. With Acre’s Bastard: Part I and Acre’s Orphans: Part 2 of the Lucca Le Pou Stories, Turmel has proven he’s capable of producing a series, and Johnny Lycan & The Anubis Disk seems particularly well suited to be the first installment in a series of its own.

Book Review: Heroic, Helpful and Caring Cats

Heroic, Helpful and Caring Cats: Felines Who Make a Difference. Anne E. Beall, Ph.D. Independently Published, April 29,2020, Trade Paperback, 118 pages.

Reviewed by Ed Marohn.

Psychologist and animal advocate, Anne Beall, tells eighteen stories of people and their relationships with felines. Her writing discusses the stereotype that dogs are the only go-to animals for providing love, support, and service to their human owners. In support of this misconception, when I facilitated a VA PTSD therapy group for eight years, I experienced the same dismissal of cats. The VA provided service dogs to help those with severe anxiety from combat trauma and hadn’t considered using service cats for my group.

From her book, the reader learns the valuable ability of cats to be service animals. Based on the anecdotes and the research discussed in the final chapter, it is evident that cats can be just as affectionate and devoted as dogs.

As the chapters unfold, the reader discovers heartwarming stories of how cats not only are affectionate to humans, but are trainable to serve as licensed service animals to comfort hospital and hospice patients, staff, and PTSD veterans.

In this book, cat owners share how their pets are as intelligent as dogs, how they bond with them, and how they provide empathy, love, and understanding. The chapters highlight how the feline companions help counter depression in their humans and deal with home and work issues. Like dogs, cats can sense when their human is ill or suffering and will react to comfort them by cuddling and staying with the person. The interaction between the owner and the feline is a strong tie—both needing each other.

The author also includes a detailed review of a unique and much-needed process that deals with feral cats. The TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) program addresses the increasing feral cat population and resulting community issues. As a former City Council member, I saw the TNR program thrive where I live. Rather than capture cats and euthanize them, city workers would humanely trap feral cats, after which they were spayed/neutered, then released to their original location. The population of the wild animals is controlled and subsequently reduced, while diseases diminish through this humane effort. 

This book is entertaining and educational, and I recommend reading it whether or not you are an animal lover. As a former dog owner, I can honestly say that after reading this book, I have learned to respect cats more than before. And I can thank Anne Beall for this.

Book Review: Tales of Forgotten Chicago

Tales of Forgotten Chicago. Richard C. Lindberg. Southern Illinois University Press, July 28, 2020, Trade Paperback and E-book, 280 pages.

Reviewed by Wayne Turmel.

More than most cities, Chicago relishes stories about its past. In Tales of Forgotten Chicago, Richard Lindberg has collected 21 moments in Chicago’s rich history that help capture the flavor of this unique city, without a single Tommy gun or mention of St. Valentine’s day.

From the opening chapter, which outlines the pre-assassination theatrical career of John Wilkes Booth and his brother Edwin, we go through the Chicago Fire, with a reexamination and overdue redemption of poor Cate O’Leary, to perhaps the most persistent candidate in political history. That’s only a sample of some crazy, violent, and just plain wacky incidents that have made Chicago the unique city it is.

Some of the stories, like the one about the career of "Lar" Daly, who ran for dozens of public offices and achieved none of them, or the shenanigans associated with the 1964 visit of the Beatles, are funny and charming. Others, like the tale of the 1888 murder of Maggie Gaughan, portend the racial, criminal, and class schisms that echo through the years to today’s headlines and lead stories.

Perhaps the best thing about the book for long-time Chicagoans is how it takes a crazy patchwork of anecdotes and creates a single, unique picture of where we live and how we got here. We live in what some have called the “Most American City,” and Lindbergh’s book brings that realization home. Reading the book, I remembered vaguely having heard something about Swift, Armour, and Morris, but not knowing what they meant to the world, or seeing a quarter-scale Leaning Tower of Pisa and wondering what the heck it was doing in the middle of Niles, but had no clue what that was all about. 

Each story is so well researched and so rich in details that the book is best read in small bites, so you can savor the specifics and maybe plan an excursion to some historical sites you didn't get to on those grade-school field trips.

Tales of Forgotten Chicago is ideal for those new to Chicago who want to immerse themselves in what is truly special about this town, or for long-timers who wish to add to their collection of "only-in-Chicago" stories to impress out of towners.