SANDRA BEASLEY is the author of the poetry collections I Was the Jukebox, winner of the 2009 Barnard Women Poets Prize, and Theories of Falling, which won the 2007 New Issues Poetry Prize. Her honors include a DCCAH Individual Artist Fellowship, the Friends of Literature Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and the Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award from Poets & Writers, Inc. She lives in Washington, D.C., where her prose has been featured in the Washington Post Magazine.
"A sufferer's witty, sobering account of living with
life-threatening food allergies." —People
“Charming…Beasley is a warm and lively guide to the quirky world of
allergies… a vital call to arms for allergy awareness.” —Boston
Globe
An “honest and amusing medical memoir that’s also a patient-written
primer on food allergies. This birthday girl doesn’t kvetch, though
she has every right to. She doesn’t consider herself a victim, just
someone who has to experience the world differently from the rest
of us.” —Washington Post
“Beasley shares surprisingly delightful stories about her own
fraught relationship with food.” —Prevention
“An unself-pitying meditation on what it’s like to live without
goodies most of us consider essential. What’s more, she somehow
manages to make the whole thing hilarious.” —Self
"This information- and anecdote-filled book will be a welcome
antidote to the worries and fears endured by families with food
allergies."—Booklist
“Intelligent and witty…enthralling…thoughtful and well-written.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Award winner Beasley (e.g., Barnard Women Poets) offers a cultural
study of living the “allergic life.” —Library Journal
“Fascinating…humane and informative.” —Kirkus Reviews
"[A] fun read...Beasley is certainly inspiring to anyone who's
suffered from allergies or other medical conditions that make you
feel like you're on the outside looking in. But her memories of a
supportive family who stuck with her through hard times, friends
and lovers who accommodated her needs, and her narrative of
independence and self-sufficiency will strike a chord with any
reader—even those whose gustatory options are endless."
—SeriousEats.com
"For readers who suffer from allergies, or care for someone who
does, for parents who wonder why they can no longer send their
child to school with the American staple, a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich, or for anyone curious about how Sandra Beasley handles a
lifelong challenge successfully, this book is for you. Winning,
wise and humorous, you'll think twice when someone says, ‘Pass the
peanuts.’” —Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Don't Sing at
the Table
“Sandra Beasley’s memoir—so bright and lucid and compelling, so
intelligent and affecting—is even more than a gripping tale of
living with numerous, potentially deadly
allergies. Brilliantly combining her personal narrative
with medical research and cultural analyses, Beasley’s memoir is
ultimately an exploration of how we negotiate our vulnerable,
permeable selves in a world that is filled equally with joy and
harm.” —Richard McCann, author of Mother of
Sorrows
"Don’t Kill the Birthday Girl is much more than a compelling
examination of food allergies—it’s a meditation on human fragility.
Sandra Beasley has made visible the potential hazards of what so
many of us take for granted and moves away from the body’s
rejection of allergens into the story of what it means to live and
love. In sparkling prose, Beasley has written a memoir that
becomes a remarkable mélange—undeniably informative, and a real
pleasure—both hip and wickedly smart." —Alex Lemon, author of
Happy: A Memoir and Fancy Beasts
“Sandra Beasley's book is both hilarious and moving. It's about
what it's like to live in fear of hidden parmesan, but it's also
about teenage rebellion, romance and George Washington Carver.
Recommended for everyone, no matter what their immune system is
like.” —A.J. Jacobs, author of My Life as an Experiment and The
Year of Living Biblically
“Don't Kill The Birthday Girl is a compelling and enlightening
exploration of what life is like for someone with life threatening
allergies. Thoughtful and witty but most important,
educational, this book is a must read for anyone who has or knows
someone with severe allergies—which means everyone.” —Jill
McCorkle, author of Going Away Shoes and Carolina Moon
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
