[...] There is, in these pages, no sense of a woman comfortable in the world, a woman at ease. "Don't smile so much, sit up straight," she admonishes "Think about why I bite my nails at the movies.." How is it possible that anyone is this self-conscious? And how is it possible that this degree of consciousness could be fruitful?

[...] For a woman who had always believed in her own exceptionality, who had defined herself by her will to be different, to rise above, the terrifying democracy of illness is one of its most painful aspects. [...]