Cheek was footsteps away from her as she laid bleeding and in terrible pain at his office
930818
99.9% of all doctors do not wake up in the morning and say I'll commit malpractice today. In this case, Suzanne Matteo was used as an "experiment specimen" to help determine if a new way to increase the chances of an IVF pregnancy would work, without her knowledge or consent.  Additionally, the fact that Dr. Cheek was footsteps away from her as she laid bleeding and in terrible pain at his office, his continuous refusal to respond to the nurse's multiple requests to see the patient who was in really bad shape, is pure arrogance. Dr. Cheek ignored his patient and she died unnecessarily at age 37 -- arrogance assisted in killing the patient.
4184109
planting the tiniest seeds of hope in a person and watching them birth through a layer of grief

Still reeling from the unrelenting emotions I found in Dear Hearts, the Ericka Clay book I read first, I knew I was in for another painful read. And I was right.

This was no story-book romance or mystery, Erickas books get you by the throat and force you to witness real life as she sees it.

I know how accurate she is, for I have known people like the characters she portrays and parts of my own life have unfortunately been similar. I suspect there are many more people living lives like this than we know, for some people, life can be hard and unforgiving, making their struggle and determination to find a better one all the more remarkable.

This story was raw, bloody and powerful. The author lays bare all the emotional detritus of human life with the accuracy of a surgeon, exposing the underbelly.

Compelling and vicious, you will remember this book for a long time
2396404
Finally! A book that further guilts women into feeling bad for having saved their child's life! I mean have you seen this cover? Seriously? BLOOOOOOOD BAAAAATH. I know I don't have that much blood. I had a c-section and I had a vaginal birth. Both were incredible experiences. Neither was better. The artwork of women crying blood and bleeding out is horrifying and demeaning. If you think the worst thing that can happen to you is a c-section, you've obviously never had an obstetric emergency during a vaginal birth and ended up with a dead baby because of it.

If reading ICAN's facebook group hasn't made you feel guilty enough about saving your child's life, this book is a sure-fire way to get yourself a full-fledged diagnosis of PPD.

I'm going to write a sequel.... VAGINAL VOICES. It will have a woman with blood coming out of her vagina in a big splash. And it will have stories of shoulder dystocias and uterine ruptures because people believe the crap they read in books like this.
1019776
Patient recovery?  A place of beauty and distinction no  place to avoid, right?  People are dying and  Helen is to close for comfort!
2552328
Striking example of how not to treat our patients!! The pain of having cancer was nothing compared to the cavalier treatment by her medical team. Thank God for her caring nurse. Prepare to cry and be changed in how you treat people.
2862469
Excellent book.  Very well written and could read the pain she suffered...the indignities.  Shared this with a friend and she liked it too.
3442717
Really knew that the author was present for the happenings in this autobiography. Blood, sweat, tears, and especially fatigue depicted in this book on the mark.
3373387
"I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach but I felt like this was my only way out." ~ Trudy M. Johnson

By the time you read this review, you may have already had an abortion/vpt (voluntary pregnancy termination). If you are still debating whether you should have one or not this might be a good book to read. It could influence you in a positive way.

"Over one million women a year choose to terminate a pregnancy through abortion."

Mostly this book is about overcoming the grief you will experience if you have had an abortion. Yet the author experienced emotional hell for what seems like fourteen years because of her decision. She had nightmares, felt shame and guilt, and was depressed and angry. One of the problems some women have include all these things and also include suicidal thoughts. Mother's Day is upsetting and each day women who have chosen to have vpt think about their child. In this book there is a very touching letter that the author writes to her aborted child. It is very sad to think that for all the years she suffered she could have been experiencing the joy of a child. Instead she must imagine what her child would have been like including what she would have looked like in her wedding dress. What a heavy burden to bear!

"43 percent of women under the age of 45 have had an abortion."

So while I'm personally against having an abortion (the process horrifies me) except in the case where the mother's life is in danger I understand that women who have made this decision need support and understanding. I feel compassion for anyone who is going through immense grief! With that said I think this book would be helpful if you have already had a vpt. There are a number of pages where you can journal about your thoughts. The book helps you process grief in a practical way. A journal is recommended. There are some interesting ideas like making a memorial collage or writing about how you felt on "the day."

"Those who sanction the legalities of the procedure don't necessarily understand the aftermath of grief that can follow a decision." ~ pg. 99

While reading this book you may ask yourself why there is so much grief if abortion/vpt is such a good choice. "Choice Processing and Resolution" may help you to recover and heal but I personally hope this book will convince you to never have another abortion. I never realized how much emotional pain a woman could be in after a vpt. I would not wish it upon anyone.

~The Rebecca Review
400628
I just want to warn women:  I  had one office visit with this doctor. I hesitently went for a second and found myself
verbally attacked by his office manager/wife and treated disrespectfully by Townsend himself.  Another friend  who saw him left unimpressed because his focus was to sell products.
1022373
Gut wrenching for the loved ones that a nurse could be so despicable------even more despicable are the hospitals and facilities that did not report him. This nurse  worked at dozens of hospitals before being caught.
3022396
This is a story about life taking a wrong turn and the struggle to get back on the right path. It is dark. It is twisted. It is painful. She gets the high note ending just barely. It is life at the rawest. This was a great story but I truly never want to read it again.
3856352
Her Husband embezzled so much money, that he would rather kill himself rather than face his crime.  So She decides to go to Oval Office to get a job.  Imagine what the Clinton enemies would have said if Clinton had given a government job to the wife of a huge fundraiser who was a convicted felon?

The tone of her book is just blaming and bitter.  Lie down with swine my dear get covered in Mud.

That said, Clinton should never be forgiven for betraying the people who believed in him, for cheap and lurid sex.

Because of his MonicaGate, we now have to pay with 8 years of the evilest President since Nixon.  Thanks Bill
655530
This woman is so wretched that I almost (and I did say almost) felt sorry for Obama. And you know someone is bad when that happens! There is nothing this cold, sociopathic, greed driven Hag will not do for power. Since she never really got anywhere on her own, and everything she has attained has been a result of her affiliation with Bill, she relies heavily on his advice and strategy to launch herself in as the first female President. Both of them are about as unhealthy as a person can get, and it is just a matter of time before Bill keels over. Heart problems. Hillary has a string of maladies also, such as the fainting thing, and the blot clot deal. Maybe it is Karma raising its head.
2226153
Very Interesting!! I wonder that because of all the facial cancer surgery if that is the reason the she lived in the hospital?
2454834
I bought the boots for my wife.  She found them in a store and really liked it.  However, when I saw her socks were colored by the bleeding... I felt really sorry for her.
1451139
The author built up an incredible love story and destroyed it with the characters having a warped acceptance of physical abuse. ~Affaire de Coeur
4584514
For a scant 154 pages, "Black Water" packs quite a brutal punch.  Oates will have you squirming in discomfort as you read about Kelly Kelleher, who after a car accident on page one spends the entirety of the novella trapped in a car underneath the titular black water, helpless and alone and waiting for help that very likely will not come.  She has been abandoned and left to die by her companion, an unnamed but familiar Senator whose reckless driving got her into this mess, and who left her behind in his haste to exit the sinking vehicle.

"Black Water" is, as many undoubtedly know, based on the 1969 accident in which Ted Kennedy left young Mary Jo Kopechne to drown while he ran to get - not the police, not an ambulance - his lawyer.  But Oates astutely doesn't use a sledgehammer to drive in her point, she simply focuses on the plight of Kelleher, an innocent woman trapped and flashing back on her life and the circumstances that led her to this place as the water slowly overtakes her, and allows the story to speak the volumes that it has to speak on its own.

Happy reading?  Absolutely not, and I imagine that this will turn off a lot of readers.  But one would be hard pressed to deny the power and intensity of Oates' writing.  Entertainment Weekly recently named this one of the top fifty books of the last twenty-five years, and I can see why.  I think "Black Water" will be haunting me for a long time to come.

I had never read Joyce Carol Oates before, but after this I will definitely be checking her out again - and soon.

Grade: A