Pretty Is What Changes: Impossible Choices, the Breast Cancer Gene, and How I Defied My Destiny

I throughly enjoyed and learned from this book and think Ms Queller is a gifted writer. The reviewers who criticize her lack of indepth information on BRCA testing and genetic mutations are being unfair. Ms Queller is not a genetics scientist or even a physican. (My stepson is a brilliant genetics biologist and, believe me, the average layman would not understand most of what he says.) Jessica Queller is telling this story as a patient, a patient who bravely poured out her very intensely personal experience to strangers to read. I think she deserves to be admired and even thanked. It is interesting to note how similar the critical reviews sound. Perhaps written by the same person using different names? Or maybe this is such a personal topic it has touched a raw nerve in some readers and upset their peace of mind. I don't know, but I do think the book deserves rave reviews. Many nonfiction books are poorly written and bore me to death. This story never bored me for one minute; I was entertained, enlightened, and impressed. Kudos, Ms Queller. I hope you will continue to write about your ongoing experiences and (best wishes) with your family planning.

An absolute must-read. The vivid portrayal of loss and hope is so clear-eyed, so honest and so courageous that I was humbled and grateful to have been allowed this glimpse into Jessica's experience. I have already sent this book to more people than I can count.

I was hooked from the epigraph quoting Stephen Sondheim: "Pretty isn't beautiful, mother. Pretty is what changes. What the eye arranges is beautiful." This book, ostensibly about the breast cancer gene, is really, remarkably, about life, liberty in the confounding pursuit of medical truth, cancer, art, creativity, Hollywood, and the most compelling mother/daughter coming of age story I have ever read. Upon reading "Pretty Is What Changes," I immediately signed up for gene testing, googled the author, bought a ticket for a revival of "Sunday in the Park with George," went to see Seurat at the Modern, and had serious talks and hugs with my daughters about the gene, my own artist mother, their limitless potential for success, and my love for them. Whew!

I loved this book. Jessica Queller is a talented writer with a gripping story, one she tells with honesty and without sentiment. With a fascinating sweep through the author's family history, around the brave new world of DNA fortune-telling, and into her own personal relationships and how they are affected by the explosive power of the BRCA gene, her style is both intimate and intelligent. This is not a dark and somber story. Queller is able to maintain a sense of humor about herself while getting to the scary nub of it all - the life-and-death decisions, the thorny issues of fate and afterlife - and ends the book on a note of inspired hope. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a great read. It is not necessarily, even, a cancer book. It is a book about the triumph of will, passion, and self-determination.

Focusing on three generations of women in her family, Jessica Queller lays the groundwork early on, letting us know she comes from a fiercely independent line of women, but one that still defines pretty by traditional means. From her actress-grandmother to her fashion designer-mother, and herself, a television writer (at the time, on the show "Gilmore Girls" and currently on "Gossip Girl), Queller grapples with the difficulties of finding her place in this female dynamic. When her mother dies from ovarian cancer however, Jessica turns her contemporary eye on taking the BRCA test (the test for the breast cancer gene). After discovering she tests positive for the gene, Queller's inherent and inherited beauty is at risk as she weighs the options on how to proceed and insure her health and longevity for a beautiful life. The reader is taken into her mind as she meets survivors, pre-vivors and others touched by the disease and ultimately, makes a decision to redefine the genes and ideals we inherit. While this book does tackle deep topics and questions, Queller strikes a balance by setting it against the starry backdrop of the television world and the history of her unique and lovably idiosyncratic family. Readers of any level and gender will appreciate her writing and hopefully, walk away with their own picture of the ever-changing face of beauty.