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Janet & Me: An Illustrated Story of Love and Loss
In words and drawings both candid and human, Stan Mack follows his eighteen-year relationship with Janet Bode, a lighthearted fling that beat the odds to become an enduring love affair. The only thing they couldn't beat was cancer.
As Janet and Stan confront the jagged terrain of cancer, then navigate the twilight of terminal illness, two portraits emerge: of a woman who faced her cancer the same way she lived her life, with guts and charm; and of the man who held her close and shared her struggle. For anyone who can't resist a beautifully told love story, for anyone who is touched by someone suffering from serious illness and looking for emotional and practical guidance, and for anyone who appreciates a life lived to the fullest, Janet & Me will resonate long after the last page is turned.
As Janet and Stan confront the jagged terrain of cancer, then navigate the twilight of terminal illness, two portraits emerge: of a woman who faced her cancer the same way she lived her life, with guts and charm; and of the man who held her close and shared her struggle. For anyone who can't resist a beautifully told love story, for anyone who is touched by someone suffering from serious illness and looking for emotional and practical guidance, and for anyone who appreciates a life lived to the fullest, Janet & Me will resonate long after the last page is turned.
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 14, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
January 2, 2011
What a wonderful book this is — I read it two sittings and would have read it in one if life hadn't interrupted. It's the story of Stan Mack, a cartoonist, and Jane Bode, a writer who became his great love. He writes and draws cartoons about their joyous times together and the gradual loss of everything except their love for each other when she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. This was one extraordinary woman — someone who attracted the kinds of friends who didn't run away from her disease but instead ministered to her. And what an amazing guy Stan is, never failing to love her, comfort her and take care of her right to the end. I recommend it to anyone. It will make you feel better about humanity.
February 18, 2017
I hope that the end of life care processes have changed for the better since Janet and Stan's experience in the late nineties. Some of the hoops they had to jump through were just flat out ridiculous. That being said, this memoir is touching, gripping, and much needed to educate us all about cancer and the end of life. I saw some similarities between what I understood of my grandmother's passing (fortunately the only relative that I've been close enough and aware enough to know what's going on) and what happened with Janet.
Even though it's a tough subject, we all will be witnesses and participants in this phase of life. Better to educate ourselves and Mack does a nice job of sharing his and Janet's experience.
Even though it's a tough subject, we all will be witnesses and participants in this phase of life. Better to educate ourselves and Mack does a nice job of sharing his and Janet's experience.
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January 2, 2021A really lovely story. Nothing sappy. I am not much of a romance reader and this is a romance, but tempered with so much humanity. I enjoyed the graphic-novel-type-style it was written in as well.
October 13, 2022
Stan Mack wrote of his life with Janet Bode the only way he knew how: though humor and illustrations. Janet had a five-year battle with breast cancer, and this heartbreaking memoir tells it all.
October 2, 2015
For no reason in particular I have been reading many memoirs of middle aged people facing mortality either of mothers (Bettyville, Elsewhere) and partners, as is the case in this graphic telling of a woman's life and then death from cancer.
In this book, there is the story, and there are the drawings. I think the drawings are okay...not skilled and beautiful like the work of Allison Bechdel. Not fierce like Spiegleman or wonderfully graphic like Marjane Satrapi.
I was weirdly fascinated by the success of Stan Mack as an artist, who seems less than brilliant.
But his story is so moving. He does a beautiful job of bringing to life the woman he loved but never married. He is bravely open about his battles with the insurance companies, with the betrayal by Janet's favorite doctor who dropped out of her life when she was most needed. He is also fearless in his depiction of his own flaws and struggles.
This is not a book to read if you are grieving. Save it for when you feel strong, and can absorb a story that is all too common, but also specific to anyone who has to face it. It is very sad.
In this book, there is the story, and there are the drawings. I think the drawings are okay...not skilled and beautiful like the work of Allison Bechdel. Not fierce like Spiegleman or wonderfully graphic like Marjane Satrapi.
I was weirdly fascinated by the success of Stan Mack as an artist, who seems less than brilliant.
But his story is so moving. He does a beautiful job of bringing to life the woman he loved but never married. He is bravely open about his battles with the insurance companies, with the betrayal by Janet's favorite doctor who dropped out of her life when she was most needed. He is also fearless in his depiction of his own flaws and struggles.
This is not a book to read if you are grieving. Save it for when you feel strong, and can absorb a story that is all too common, but also specific to anyone who has to face it. It is very sad.
April 28, 2010
Sniffle sniffle sniffle.
Now it is kind of tough to do the comic/long text block format, but I think Mack does a really great job here. It wasn't overly wordy or emotional or anything - it was a straightforward, slightly sentimental un-gimmicky non-technical diary of the way a relationship grows and changes in the face of cancer and the quiet despair of the ends of the illness. I just -- I really liked it. In an entirely different way than Anders Don't Go Where I Can't Follow, it still gave me chills, the way love takes people far far beyond the bounds of what they feel regularly capable of, just to feed and clothe and clean their loved one. I am so grateful that this is so true in the world.
Now it is kind of tough to do the comic/long text block format, but I think Mack does a really great job here. It wasn't overly wordy or emotional or anything - it was a straightforward, slightly sentimental un-gimmicky non-technical diary of the way a relationship grows and changes in the face of cancer and the quiet despair of the ends of the illness. I just -- I really liked it. In an entirely different way than Anders Don't Go Where I Can't Follow, it still gave me chills, the way love takes people far far beyond the bounds of what they feel regularly capable of, just to feed and clothe and clean their loved one. I am so grateful that this is so true in the world.
August 6, 2012
I love this book and have re-read it many times over the years. I offered it as a gift to my aunt after her brother died of pancreatic cancer. It's a very honest portrait of a terrible time and a reminder to us all of what's important in life.
January 29, 2015
More than any other book I read after the death of my husband, this book captured the reality and pain of watching a loved one die of cancer. Mack's work is painful, beautiful, and honest. I can't recommend it enough.
November 11, 2009
3.5 - I am clearly a sucker for comic book memoirs about grief and pain. A surprisingly robust genre.
August 16, 2023
Touching and well-written. I'd fallen in love with Janet long before the end of the book, myself. What a touching memoir.
July 8, 2011
A wonderful love story,, very sad too.
January 19, 2014
Too sad. Too real. Good story but AUGH MY EMOTIIOOONNS
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews