My Reading Room: memoir

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Review and Giveaway - The Sugarless Plum by Zippora Karz

The Sugarless Plum by Zippora Karz

My rating: 4.75/5.0

Publisher: Harlequin
Binding: Hardcover
Release Date: November 1, 2009
Pages: 288

I received this book from Caitlin Price with FSB Media for review.

I am really starting to enjoy memoirs - I have gone from being a straight fiction reader, to reading non-fiction and enjoying it. This is just one of the things that reviewing books has done for me.

My Review:

The Sugarless Plum was a very enjoyable memoir of the life of Zippora Karz while she was growing up and in the New York City Ballet dealing with Type-1 Diabetes. It was a fascinating look inside the life of a ballerina. I had no idea what all they go through during the day and how many performances they do. I have never been to a ballet myself since I live in a small town, so I really didn't know much about it. This book has shed light on the ballet world and has made me very interested in it.

This look at Zippy's life is amazing and inspiring. How she plows through it all while dealing with a life-altering illness is amazing. The book is very uplifting and honest. It read like a fiction novel in that it never lost pace and kept me wanting to know more and more about Zippy page after page.

Entertaining, enlightening and very inspiring, this is a wonderful book that almost anyone would enjoy.

About the Book:

For dancer Zippora Karz, a rising young star with the famed New York City Ballet, being diagnosed with diabetes could easily have ended all her dreams. She was just twenty-one when she was plucked from the corps de ballet to dance solo roles like the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker. It was near the end of a grueling season when she became exhausted, dizzy, and excessively thirsty. Heavy pancake makeup covered the sores under her arms that would not heal, but still Karz neglected to return her doctor s urgent calls. When she finally went to the doctor, she learned that her blood sugar was excessively high. If she continued to ignore her symptoms, Karz risked heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, and amputation of toes, feet, and legs. Because she was over twenty, doctors misdiagnosed her with Type 2 diabetes, when in fact she had juvenile (or Type 1) diabetes. Her weight dropped and she became dangerously ill as a result of being prescribed the wrong treatment. Once correctly diagnosed and placed on an insulin regimen, she would inject herself with unsafe doses before going on stage in ill-judged attempts to obtain peak performance. The potentially fatal result of Karz s self-experimentation became all too real when she nearly put herself into a coma.

Balancing ballet and her blood sugar would be a long and difficult struggle for Karz, but eventually she learned to value her body and work with it, rather than rage at its limitations. In The Sugarless Plum, Karz shares her journey from denial, shame and mis-education about her illness to how she lead an active, balanced, and satisfying life as an insulin-dependent diabetic and ballet star. Through her fascinating story, those struggling with diabetes and other serious illnesses can find encouragement and inspiration as well as practical advice on achieving physical and emotional wellness.

After sixteen years with the New York City Ballet, Karz retired and took her passion and skills into a whole new arena as a diabetes educator and advocate, where today she inspires people to not just manage their illness, but to thrive and fulfill their passions. The Sugarless Plum takes readers deep into the heart and soul of a young dancer, and is a remarkable testament to determination and perseverance.

Giveaway:

I would like to giveaway my copy of this book - it's hardcover, and it gently used shape. It's a wonderful book and I would love to share it. To enter simply leave a comment with your email address. Giveaway open Internationally this time. Giveaway will end on 11/10.

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