Cock Chronicles (ePub)

"The Other C Word... Don't be fooled by the title -- the real organ in The Cock Chronicles is a broken heart. Alternately wrathful and wistful, vengeful and vulnerable, Justine Michaels documents with unnerving honesty the fury of a lover spurned. Loss and betrayal are the central themes in this delicately woven tale of a woman who finds her sexual petals opening up-and then cast off-for the first time in middle age.

That is half the story. The Cock Chronicles is also the deeply personal diary of the author's journey through breast cancer, from diagnosis through treatment and beyond. The breast cancer story is a familiar icon in our mass culture; one fears it has almost become a cliché. But Michaels is refreshingly matter of fact, detached, even, as she plumbs the depths of her fears and the loss of her innocence. She refused to solicit our pity, preferring instead to wonder at the miraculous return of her hair after chemo ("rabbit fur," she notes), and to ponder when or even whether to show new lovers the telltale scar.

The two stories are so skillfully woven together that it wasn't until the end of the book that I understood the title. The twin betrayals of her body and her boyfriend leave Michaels with an unquenchable lust, a longing to be filled up both literally and metaphorically. The sense of voyeurism one feels witnessing the author's raw need is anything but erotic. Instead, what Justine Michaels really chronicles best, and most beautifully, is the pain of being fully sentient." - Kate Anchordoguy