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| The Middle Place (Voice) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kelly Corrigan
Publisher: Voice
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
Buy New: $8.70
You Save: $15.25 (64%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $8.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  (74 reviews)
Sales Rank: 21657
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1401303366
Dewey Decimal Number: 362.196994490092
EAN: 9781401303365
ASIN: 1401303366
Publication Date: January 8, 2008
Release Date: January 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"The Middle Place is about calling home. Instinctively. Even when all the paperwork -- a marriage license, a notarized deed, two birth certificates, and seven years of tax returns -- clearly indicates you're an adult, but all the same, there you are, clutching the phone and thanking God that you're still somebody's daughter." For Kelly Corrigan, family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that worked, a couple of funny, active kids, and a weekly newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still saw herself as George Corrigan's daughter. A garrulous Irish-American charmer from Baltimore, George was the center of the ebullient, raucous Corrigan clan. He greeted every day by opening his bedroom window and shouting, "Hello, World!" Suffice it to say, Kelly's was a colorful childhood, just the sort a girl could get attached to. Kelly lives deep within what she calls the Middle Place -- "that sliver of time when parenthood and childhood overlap" -- comfortably wedged between her adult duties and her parents' care. But she's abruptly shoved into a coming-of-age when she finds a lump in her breast -- and gets the diagnosis no one wants to hear. And so Kelly's journey to full-blown adulthood begins. When George, too, learns he has late-stage cancer, it is Kelly's turn to take care of the man who had always taken care of her -- and show us a woman as she finally takes the leap and grows up. Kelly Corrigan is a natural-born storyteller, a gift you quickly recognize as her father's legacy, and her stories are rich with everyday details. She captures the beat of an ordinary life and the tender, sometimes fractious moments that bind families together.Rueful and honest, Kelly is the prized friend who will tell you her darkest, lowest, screwiest thoughts, and then later, dance on the coffee table at your party. Funny, yet heart-wrenching, The Middle Place is about being a parent and a child at the same time. It is about the special double-vision you get when you are standing with one foot in each place. It is about the family you make and the family you came from -- and locating, navigating, and finally celebrating the place where they meet. It is about reaching for life with both hands -- and finding it.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 Another fan of The Middle Place! August 26, 2008
Add me to the chorus of praise. I'm an over-scheduled mom of two young kids who works full-time but I stayed up all night (literally) reading The Middle Place. I so admire Kelly Corrigan's ability to put her family experience into words.
There's too much to say to capture how much I enjoyed it (and I am somewhat less than eloquent), but I tell all of my friends it's a "must read."
A wonderful book. August 24, 2008
I absolutely adored the Middle Place. As the mother of two young daughters (3-1/2 and 18 months), I was incredibly moved and touched by Kelly's incredible story and the heartfelt, funny and authentic way she writes.
After hearing about this book from a friend, I picked it up at a local book store. From the moment I opened the first page, I couldn't put it down and was literally reading it in line at pre-school pick up, when I was stopped at stoplights, any free moment I could find.
The Middle Place is a story that every mother and daughter should read. It is a book that makes you think, makes you feel and alters the way you see the world.
Kelly is an incredible writer and I certainly hope she writes more.
a must read...i loved this book July 30, 2008
This book reminded me why I love memoirs. Fantastic, resonant content written with wit, style and precision. The story is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time - which is quite a feat. You want to know her family and be a part of Ms Corrigan's life. And she writes about her own illness (breast cancer) and dealing with her father's (bladder cancer) with such honesty, clear eyed candor and clean prose, that you don't want to ever put it down. I was disappointed when it ended.
Hurray! Read this book!
You MUST read this book! July 28, 2008
As a 40-year old mother of a preschool-aged child, I didn't ever consider the possibility of being faced with cancer. During my horrible breast cancer "scare", I found Kelly Corrigan's website, Circus of Cancer (http://www.circusofcancer.org/) which lead me to her book THE MIDDLE PLACE. This is a must read for everyone and anyone who encounters cancer or the possibility of cancer. You will cry and laugh out loud!
Loved this book July 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved reading this book. I read it nearly straight through, as it is very accessible, like talking to the author. The main reason I think we should all read it is that it gives an up-close and candid look at the trauma of breast cancer in one woman's life, allowing us the language to face directly-- verbally -- what faces women with breast cancer.
The strength of the book is in its look at one honest woman's experience lived within a very close family and the strengths and weaknesses of individuals and the system as a whole in dealing with the onset of radically unexpected breast cancer. She does a fantastic job of getting at the implications for one's sense of security, one's inability to protect the people we love. I like the way she takes on the mundane banalities of worrying over looks and diet, how ordinary everyday shallow, thoughtless talk shared between friends becomes really hard to tolerate in the face of the hugeness of this assault on one's body and spirit,etc. And the lonely breakdowns, where really no one can enter.
This is a passionate book. I loved its intimacy, its directness, its vignettes where terror enters, and where love takes over.
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