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Delicious Ambiguity
Jul. 8th, 2014 05:07 pmOn long drives, I usually play music on my iPod, or an audiobook. Audiobooks have become a more recent favorite as it's a chance to listen to some interesting facts (I often play trivia-based audiobooks). On my drive home from my last hometown visit, I was listening to "It's Always Something," written and read by Gilda Radner. It was recorded just days before her passing in 1989.
I read the book years ago, but had long forgotten most of the facts, but to hear it read in her voice was both interesting and slightly unnerving at first. Being a fan of hers though, it was great to hear her voice.
While the book concentrates mainly on her struggles with cancer, it also delves into much of her life. She describes her family life as a child, about losing her father to cancer while a child and how that affected her. She also discussed her eating disorders, her love for her nanny (the inspiration for the character Emily Litella), and her early years in college and as a performer. She talks about "Saturday Night Live," her first marriage to E.G. Smith, and her falling for Gene Wilder. She never cheated on Smith, but they amicably divorced soon after she met Wilder and she actively pursued him afterward. After she married him, she was very interested in becoming a mother and housewife, but her inability to get pregnant was the first sign of trouble. She describes her struggles to get pregnant along with continuing her career and now being heavily involved in Gene's. Her failure to get pregnant was followed by her delayed diagnosis of ovarian cancer, her recovery and remission, and finally the recurrence.
It's both sad and funny in different parts. Her career was literally on the upswing again, with network TV preparing to shoot a sitcom pilot for her right before the cancer resurfaced. She was angry, but hopeful that things would be okay.
While we know the outcome of her efforts to beat the cancer now, the book ends with her preparing for aggressive treatment from a new oncologist and not knowing what was going to happen next.
"Delicious ambiguity," she called it.
I read the book years ago, but had long forgotten most of the facts, but to hear it read in her voice was both interesting and slightly unnerving at first. Being a fan of hers though, it was great to hear her voice.
While the book concentrates mainly on her struggles with cancer, it also delves into much of her life. She describes her family life as a child, about losing her father to cancer while a child and how that affected her. She also discussed her eating disorders, her love for her nanny (the inspiration for the character Emily Litella), and her early years in college and as a performer. She talks about "Saturday Night Live," her first marriage to E.G. Smith, and her falling for Gene Wilder. She never cheated on Smith, but they amicably divorced soon after she met Wilder and she actively pursued him afterward. After she married him, she was very interested in becoming a mother and housewife, but her inability to get pregnant was the first sign of trouble. She describes her struggles to get pregnant along with continuing her career and now being heavily involved in Gene's. Her failure to get pregnant was followed by her delayed diagnosis of ovarian cancer, her recovery and remission, and finally the recurrence.
It's both sad and funny in different parts. Her career was literally on the upswing again, with network TV preparing to shoot a sitcom pilot for her right before the cancer resurfaced. She was angry, but hopeful that things would be okay.
While we know the outcome of her efforts to beat the cancer now, the book ends with her preparing for aggressive treatment from a new oncologist and not knowing what was going to happen next.
"Delicious ambiguity," she called it.
