Glitter and Glue

I thought I had picked up an easy going romance novel.  I seem to be into those this summer.  They are easy to read and relaxing but that was not what this book was all about.  Turns out it is a life story, non-fiction. 

The C word, Cancer seems to be finding its way into my life lately. A friend is coping with it and it is not pretty.  For some reason I seem to be reading books with protagonists dealing with the illness.  I picked up this book because of the title thinking romance but I was surprised when I started reading the book that the author was touched by this illness.  (Just a note, I did not read the synopsis of this book before starting it.  If I had I probably would not have read it) But while the last book Fault in Our Stars was totally focused on people dealing with Cancer this book is more a reflection of the authors life and her relationships.

 She talks ALOT about her relationship with her Mom.  Mother Daughter relationships are so complex and her relationship with her Dad.  She calls her Father the glitter and her Mom the glue hence the name.  But this is so often a true analogy.  The Mom is the one who works hard to keep the family together, she is the glue.

In addition to her relationships with her family she talks about her year spent travelling through 7 countries with a stop in Australia where she finds herself short of money and works as a nanny for this family where the Mom has just died from you guessed it Cancer.

It is a more interesting read than I thought it would be.  Check it out!