Cancer Doesn’t Give A Shit About Your Stupid Attitude: Reflections on Cancer and Catholicism

According to writer and illustrator Mary Valle, the pink platitudes about breast cancer are lies. Cancer is a disease, not a test of strength or a blessing in disguise. And as Valle was irradiated, biopsied and operated upon, she began to feel less like a person and more like a body. Raised Catholic but never one to cling to convention, Valle sought comfort from her own patron saints, including Emily Dickinson, Saint Agatha and Loki. Originally published in the online religion magazine Killing the Buddha, Valle’s drawings, poems and dispatches on cancer and Catholicism are collected here for the first time. Harrowing, hilarious and human, Cancer Doesn’t Give A Shit About Your Stupid Attitude is unlike any other book you’ve read.