Just weeks before Mike died, Julia was diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer (what Mike called her "sympathy cancer"), and within days of burying her brother she underwent a radical hysterectomy, beginning her own journey through "the International House of Cancer".
Drawing from these Job-like travails, Julia wrote this remarkably funny and touching monologue about a family that managed to persevere with humor, grace, and love.
There's lots more Julia Sweeney available at Audible®! Just click here to download In the Family Way, her appearances on This American Life, her Un-Cabaret performances, and other great programs.
© and (P) Julia Sweeney
"A grand achievement...a lesson in love and tolerance." (USA Today)
"Sweeney offers living proof that laughter is the only revenge." (The San Francisco Chronicle)
"Resonated Big Time"
This book confirms that true stories are the most poignant and the funniest.
My pre-teen daughter, teen son and I listened to Julia's story five or six times during a cross-country road trip, cracking us up through 7 states. Several passages have entered our family's lexicon.
Thanks Julia for helping us deal with the loss of our husband/father. There is still plenty to laugh about!
"Great show!!"
I laughed and cried and came back to Audible to see if Julia Sweeney had made any more audios. She has!! Good for us!
"Julia Sweeney is always great!"
I'm a huge fan and was not disappointed.
"Like catching up with a lost friend..."
What an enjoyable listen -- I felt like I was catching up with a long-lost friend. Sad to hear the tragic parts, reassured and ever-so-pleased that after everything, she's emerged from it all in good enough spirits to retell it with such tenderness and humour.
"A terribly funny, brutally honest punch in the gut"
It's hard to describe the events in Julia's book without wanting to close the shades and crawl under the covers into the fetal position. Julia finds humor and grace in even the most dire situation. She puts all her frustration and grief forward in such a way that makes you want to simultaneously laugh and cry. All the foibles of her family members pale compared to their strength in dealing with the illness and death of her beloved brother Mike. Her own stress reaction is her itching desire to get out of the house away from her relatives, smoke, and buy the Pope's new book. Even this little task goes awry in the most hilarious of ways. Her own health becomes an issue when she is diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer- so rare that even getting her slides away from the research lab is a chore. An enjoyable chore, when she meets the scientist working on her form of cancer. This is a great audiobook for anyone dealing with a difficult situation, but this is also full of enough heartwarming laughs for anyone at all.
"Laugh out loud from start to finish"
I was sitting behind my husband on a long motorcycle ride and we were each listening to our own thing thru our helmets. He was listening to The Economist, and I was listening to Julia Sweeney. Guess who kept laughing out loud the whole way home!
"So Touching and Funny"
Julia Sweeney is an amazing storyteller and comedian. She can take you on a journey through some big issues and make you laugh along the way. The beautiful thing is that the laughs are real, but they do not take anything away from the gravity of the events in the story. She's an amazing talent.
In this particular piece of work Julia takes us through the trials of her brother dying of cancer, being diagnosed with cancer herself, and having her parents come to live with her. It's both touching and hilarious in a way that I don't think many other artists could create.
"Cancer why me?"
She is taking a not so funny Life experience, and turning it into a laughable thing.
no sorry...
I share some of this experience. If it is not one thing It is another, and could empathize..It seems when trouble comes it really multiplies!
"Ok, never great"
It was reasonably entertaining, but never really, really sad or really, really funny. I don't regret buying it, but after listening to it, I decided I did not need to listen to her other books.