So for my first entry on this blog, let me just say that I picked an awesome book. While it is a memoir of Kelly Corrigan and her life during her battle with breast cancer, it is also about her relationship with her father, the Green Man or Greenie, and her mother. The focus does stay on Greenie; however, what I find most fascinating is the mother / daughter relationship. She talks through what I will describe as her inner voice. You know the voice where your mouth is saying one thing and you are being all innocent, but your mind is screaming all of the crazy absurdities of your brain. Yes, I am picking a fight with my mother. I know this will drive her crazy. That kind of dialogue. I found some of my own immaturities and drama in Kelly's mind.
Now, her relationship with Greenie was one I could relate to in so many ways. Greenie was not really all that much like my dad but her love and devotion to being his Daddy's girl struck a cord with me. Kelly is suffering through her own cancer and feelings of guilt for not being able to be with and take care of her dad while he suffers through a second round of cancer. This time it is in his bladder. The title signifies that she is stuck in the middle--that of being her daughters' mother and Greenie's child. She is a Corrigan, a name whose reputation reaches far beyond the walls of their house. She feels prestige and recognition with her family name and even though Greenie prompts her to take her husband's name, she can't bring herself to break that bond with her own family.
Kelly runs the gamut of personas. She is the stoic cancer survivor; the immature adult child; a mommy; a devoted wife; an inconsiderate bitch of a wife...
I enjoyed all of the parts of this book. It was witty, enlightening, endearing, and breathtaking.
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