A powerful memoir about coming to grips with illness

Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness

By Richard M. Cohen

Perennial, 242 pages, $13.95 paperback

Richard Cohen’s wry and witty memoir isn’t what you might expect. Yes, it’s the story of one man–and his family–facing not one but two devastating diagnoses, but it’s also a warm, sarcastic, unflinching dissection of love, pain, laughter and wounded pride. This is the rare “illness book” that never swerves into self-pity and never turns preachy; Cohen instead chooses a human mixture of bitterness, anger and grace.