GENRE: Memoir
HONORS: None, so far
REVIEW: Lessons in Taxidermy is the book that author Bee Lavender did not have when her and her mother scoured bookstores for stories about children with cancer. In her memoir, Bee Lavender details her childhood illnesses and flashes back and forth between the minute to minute diagnosis she has in the emergency room as an adult. Most of the memoir is childhood to young adulthood timeline of surgeries, pain meds, 'freak show' identity, car crash, unplanned pregnancy, and social exclusion. As a child who grew up with every reason to die in the most unforgiving environment, Bee was destined to live even without the full will to put up a fight.
OPINION: Bee Lavender packs her memoir with squeamish, pain inducing details of her ailments and hospital visits, while harboring the tone of a monotonous attitude that is more realistic than the derived inspirational survivor's tale. Even though her perspective becomes too self-serving at times (which she admits) and the people in her life just seem to disappear without a trace of significance, her alternative edge and enthrallment with freak shows, vintage clothes, and counter culture is enough to interest women young and old who are in search for a story of true strength.
IDEAS: Bibliography about illness.
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