The Middle Place Review and Giveaway

Have you ever sat down with a book and wished that you could be best friends with the main character? Me too.

In the case of "The Middle Place," though, the "character" is real. The book is a memoir by Kelly Corrigan and you will want to be her BFF after the first dozen pages.

Kelly is witty, down-to-earth and just plain real. You know that if you were with her, she would be the kind of person who is so secure that she has no problem revealing all her insecurities to you, if that makes any sense.

There were so many "me too" moments in the book. For example, one of my favorite lines, goes like this: "...pull on yesterday's yoga pants (I don’t actually do yoga)….."

See what I mean? Not only admitting that she wore the same pants the day before, but that she doesn't actually do yoga. It was instant platonic love for me!

Some other weird coincidences: her birthday is my son's birthday...August 16. Her father, her hero, is named George. My uncle, my hero, was named George. Her father had cancer, my uncle did, too.

Unfortunately, my uncle did not survive. But I vowed that, if my husband and I ever had another child, and it was a girl, I was going to name her Georgia after my uncle. The author named her first child Georgia after her father. Cue the Twilight Zone music!

You'll find yourself repeating her anecdotes to anyone who will listen. I retold the "Shifty the Snake" story to my kids (three different times...once for each child) and then to my husband, and I was still wanting to find someone else I could tell it to. It was that funny.

That story was yet another "me too" moment as I sort-of-on-accident killed my baby duck when I was a kid (long story).

Unfortunately, I could also relate to "The Middle Place" on a more serious level. The book details Kelly's battle against breast cancer, and her dealing with her father's prostate cancer as well.

Let me be up front in saying that, while I endured all of the first steps that Kelly did (up until her biopsy came back positive for cancer), my tumors ended up being benign. So I won't even claim to know what it's like to actually have cancer.

But as I read the beginning of Kelly's journey, I remembered that agonizing fear. She does such an amazing job of describing what those first steps are like for a woman.

And she does an even better job explaining what cancer is like. For her and her father. By the time you've finished the book, you'll wonder at the fact that not once did you ever feel truly down, or depressed in reading her story.

Kelly has a way of giving you the harsh reality, without making the book "heavy." She uplifts, encourages, and entertains, all with such a serious topic.

And I love the title of the book. "The Middle Place" is all about being a parent, and still being someones child. The love Kelly has for her father, "Greenie," is so clear that it seeps from the pages of her book into your own heart.

You'll find yourself rooting for both of them. And you won't be disappointed.

Note: "The Middle Place" has been chosen as a Booksense pick for January 2008. Booksense is the largest association of independent booksellers in the US. Also, The Middle Place will be profiled in O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine's January issue, on newsstands now!

Want to win a copy of "The Middle Place?" Just leave a comment here to be entered. I'm giving away my ARC edition to one lucky winner. Deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m., Monday, January 14. Good luck!