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Bad Hair Days
A revealing story of battling cancer, from the diagnosis in 2004, through chemotherapy and other invasive treatments, to the process of coming to terms with the inevitability of dying, this prize-winning author shares the emotional weight and personal suffering that come with dealing with a terminal illness. A moving look at serious illness and how it affects sufferers and their families.
- GenresMemoir
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2007
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About the author
Pamela Bone
5 books1 followerPamela was a columnist and associate editor of the Age, one of Australia's most respected newspapers. She began work as a journalist at the Shepparton News (in Victoria) in 1980 and joined the Age in 1982. She received many awards for her journalism, including a United Nations Media Peace prize, an award from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, an award from Results Australia for writing on issues of poverty and hunger, and an award from the New South Wales Office of the Status of Women for her writing on women's affairs. She twice received the Melbourne Press Club's Quill Award for best newspaper columnist. She travelled widely in developing countries, and was persuaded on humanitarian grounds of the justice of the Iraq War. In September 2002, she went to southern Africa to research an article on famine and AIDS, and coordinated an appeal by the Age that raised more than $1 million.
In 2008, after a long period of remission from multiple myeloma, during which she completed a book about her diagnosis called Bad Hair Days, and began another on Muslim women, Bone's condition suddenly and rapidly deteriorated, and within a week she had passed away.
In 2008, after a long period of remission from multiple myeloma, during which she completed a book about her diagnosis called Bad Hair Days, and began another on Muslim women, Bone's condition suddenly and rapidly deteriorated, and within a week she had passed away.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 7, 2016
I found this an engaging (& uplifting) read; superficially it is about Pamela Bone’s experience with multiple myeloma (a type of bone cancer), but Bone was a journalist for The Age for over 20 years and she often moves into talking about world affairs and humanitarian issues and it is these that were the most fascinating.
She writes passionately about issues that should be important to us. She is seemingly reluctant to write about her illness, as she acknowledges there are so many people who become ill, and even though she mentions it, she doesn’t really probe it the way she explores issues external to her. She does, however, tackle the issue of her impending death (the illness is treatable but not curable; it isn’t a matter of whether it will come back but when at time of writing; she died in 2008) and what death means in our society and the right to die with dignity.
Her writing is intelligent and unsentimental but not without feeling. She had a fatalistic approach to her illness; she saw it as bad luck, just as she saw her comfortable life as the luck of the draw. She says she never had a positive thought about her illness, she didn’t believe in the power of positive thinking, or of fighting “it”, but she was a positive person, who believed that most people have a strong instinct for the common good – she believed in the goodness of people (despite her experiences as a foreign correspondent; she was certainly not naïve in the way this statement can make a person seem).
She had an interesting take on the cliché a sad loss for the world – she says “the greater sadness surely is not the world’s loss, but his loss of the world”. I tend to agree.
The thought that resonated the most with my world view was how she summed up, with a reworking of the words of John Diamond (a journalist who also died of cancer – but is apparently better remembered as the husband of Nigella Lawson), “Don’t put it off. Allow yourself to be happy. This, now, is it. This is life. Love it, now.”
She writes passionately about issues that should be important to us. She is seemingly reluctant to write about her illness, as she acknowledges there are so many people who become ill, and even though she mentions it, she doesn’t really probe it the way she explores issues external to her. She does, however, tackle the issue of her impending death (the illness is treatable but not curable; it isn’t a matter of whether it will come back but when at time of writing; she died in 2008) and what death means in our society and the right to die with dignity.
Her writing is intelligent and unsentimental but not without feeling. She had a fatalistic approach to her illness; she saw it as bad luck, just as she saw her comfortable life as the luck of the draw. She says she never had a positive thought about her illness, she didn’t believe in the power of positive thinking, or of fighting “it”, but she was a positive person, who believed that most people have a strong instinct for the common good – she believed in the goodness of people (despite her experiences as a foreign correspondent; she was certainly not naïve in the way this statement can make a person seem).
She had an interesting take on the cliché a sad loss for the world – she says “the greater sadness surely is not the world’s loss, but his loss of the world”. I tend to agree.
The thought that resonated the most with my world view was how she summed up, with a reworking of the words of John Diamond (a journalist who also died of cancer – but is apparently better remembered as the husband of Nigella Lawson), “Don’t put it off. Allow yourself to be happy. This, now, is it. This is life. Love it, now.”
July 25, 2012
Well, this is one of those books that I was recommended when I was talking with a friend about books women have written when they are dying.
Pamela had myeloma and gives the reader a great understanding of what someone may go through when they (if they) are unfortunate enough to get this illness. She doesn't spare the reader any detail. Pamela's writing is very factual, even when talking about her own fear as she was going through the worst of the chemotherapy.
Pamela Bone is the columnist who became well known for declaring her support in the Iraq war. She spends a great deal of her book bouncing back and forth - drawn to her passion, into the columnist style of writing. She writes to correct or compel the reader into understanding the issues about the war, and then as she progresses in her illness, into the issues surrounding euthanasia. She is a very knowledgeable woman who, it seems, has a desire to get the most important issues out in this book. She knows that this will be the last chance that she has as the cancer is terminal.
This is not a pithy read of woman dying of cancer, but a woman who has been through a great deal, seen famine in Africa, war in Iraq, and slow death in public hospitals. She takes the chance that she can to make her voice heard when she no longer has her position as leader in The Age.
Worth a read.
Pamela had myeloma and gives the reader a great understanding of what someone may go through when they (if they) are unfortunate enough to get this illness. She doesn't spare the reader any detail. Pamela's writing is very factual, even when talking about her own fear as she was going through the worst of the chemotherapy.
Pamela Bone is the columnist who became well known for declaring her support in the Iraq war. She spends a great deal of her book bouncing back and forth - drawn to her passion, into the columnist style of writing. She writes to correct or compel the reader into understanding the issues about the war, and then as she progresses in her illness, into the issues surrounding euthanasia. She is a very knowledgeable woman who, it seems, has a desire to get the most important issues out in this book. She knows that this will be the last chance that she has as the cancer is terminal.
This is not a pithy read of woman dying of cancer, but a woman who has been through a great deal, seen famine in Africa, war in Iraq, and slow death in public hospitals. She takes the chance that she can to make her voice heard when she no longer has her position as leader in The Age.
Worth a read.
October 19, 2012
This book is great because although it is about dying it is also about living a good life and has a lot of insight into Pamela's personal opinions.
I liked it because it was realistic about life. I thought it was also quite opinionated in some ways, particularly in regard to Islamist ideology. I tend to share a lot of the opinion's of this author.
I liked it because it was realistic about life. I thought it was also quite opinionated in some ways, particularly in regard to Islamist ideology. I tend to share a lot of the opinion's of this author.
August 20, 2013
At times I found this book a little hard to get into. I appreciate where the writer is coming from but at times I felt her strong opinions were a bit too much. There were parts of the novel I really enjoyed but I was left a little disappointed
August 5, 2011
An honest glimpse into what it must be like being diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews