Heartwarming friendship shared via e-mail

books:

	• Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend: A Novel Laney K. Becker Harper Perennial, 2001 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Heartwarming friendship shared via e-mail

Lara and Susan meet through a Breast Cancer Survivor message board. This book is made up of their e-mail responses which shares the fear, sadness, laughter, tears, treatment progress and strength that ensues during Lara's battle with cancer. Susan offers her experiences as insight to Lara, and a wonderful friendship blossoms during this difficult time. Even as Lara fights for her future health, she offers support to Susan as she suffers a loss in her family, and deals with an adolescent teen. Overall, this book had excellent details of treatment options, side effects, breast reconstruction, and advice on what to look for in a doctor.

I lost a close co-worker of 5 years to a misdiagnosis of a breast lump. She had the lumpectomy, was told it was benign and during a 6 month leave from work to focus on her health, her body was unknowingly being ravaged by cancer (with no symptoms). When she returned to work, she got sick with a cough, and within 3 months died of cancer in her lungs, spine, liver. If only she only had known to get a second opinion on the lumpectomy(as this book offers as advice), she may have been able to fight, but she lost this battle. I support breast cancer charities in her memory, and I encourage every woman to read this book to be informed of treatment options and how this disease can be conquered with education. This book was a heartwarming read, worthy of 5 stars.

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Excellent, Excellent, Excellent!!!

My best friend lost her mother to breast cancer and has been a piller of strength for me as I deal with my mother's diagnosis, treatment and recovery of breast cancer. When she recommended this book to me saying that I would not only enjoy it, but would also learn from it, I listened. And she was right!! I have since given copies of this book to my mother and sister who have loved it as well. The book deals with the serious issue of breast cancer, but puts it at a very understandable and personal level. You feel like you have "hacked" into the main character's email accounts and by half way through you want to email them yourself. All I can say is Excellent, Excellent, Excellent!!

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Informative & good

Dear Stranger, Dearest Friend is the story of two women who meet in an online breast cancer support group & communicate back and forth emails.
I enjoyed this book for four reasons.
One for its writing style. It is written entirely in email. I had never read a book like this before. It was a fun & quick read being entirely in emails.
Two, because it was very informative about breast cancer. There were a lot of medical terms & procedures talked about in the book but the author does an excellent job of thoroughly explaining everything without being boring or confusing.
Three, because the story went beyond just breast cancer. These two women truly became friends & shared their lives, including family, hopes & dreams with each other.
Four, because the book made me cry. Any author that can touch your heart like that (even though the reader KNOWS it is fiction) is great!

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A must read for women everywhere

I ordered this from Amazon after reading recommendations on one of my Email groups about this. I got in the mail on Saturday after and sat down to look at it, intending just to merely take a quick look. I started reading it and couldn't put it down! This book just completely sucked me in. It's told completely via emails between a two-year cancer survivor (Susan) and a woman she befriends because of an internet post (Lara) who has just found a breast lump. It chronicles the story of their budding friendship and Lara's struggle to not only find a diagnosis but then through treatment and Susan being with her to support her every step of the way via emails. This book should be required woman for every woman over the age of 40 - actually even before then. The information obtained in this book is pretty up to date (considering it was written four years ago) and is a great way to educate yourself about breast cancer. With the statistics being that one out of every eight woman will develop breast cancer the chances that either you or someone you know could develop this disease is mighty high. This book not only contains things helpful for someone suffering from breast cancer, but things helpful for supporting them through their struggle. These women became very real to me; probably more vividly since the author is also a breast cancer survivor. Read this book - and buy an extra for a friend, the library, your local breast cancer support group. This is important!

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Good, practical, real-life and personal

The nurse practitioner at my breast surgeon's office gave me this book just after I had my bi-lateral mastectomy. I so enjoyed reading this book. It was like meeting two friends, on-line, and not in person. I could identify with so much of what the writer said. It was exactly what I needed at a time when all I wanted to do was to learn more about breast cancer. I wanted to read uplifting and hopeful info, but all the books on breast cancer had were facts and not the real life emotions that are experienced by anyone dealing with breast cancer. Since this was my 2nd time of having cancer, I had some idea of what was ahead, but losing my breasts added an additional dimension. I COULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK MORE HIGHLY, both to the patient and their friends and family. It adds a lot of insight.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Lara and Susan are very different women with one important thing in common -- breast cancer. Susan, a two-year survivor, has already been through treatment; for Lara, it is just beginning. When they "meet" over the Internet, a valuable friendship is born. Corresponding only through e-mails, they share the most intimate details about their husbands and children; their fear and joy; their daily ups and downs; and their deepest desires. Helping each other with laughter and tears, Lara and Susan build a bond that will ring true to anyone who has ever faced adversity with the support of a treasured friend.

Based on her own experience with breast cancer, Laney Katz Becker gives readers both a novel that celebrates the special bond of female friendship and an insider's look at dealing with breast cancer.

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