Glamour, Interrupted

I was given the opportunity to review another book from HarperCollins so I jumped at it. This time, I chose something that I would probably never have read otherwise. I chose Steven Cojocaru’s book Glamour, Interrupted: How I Became the Best-Dressed Patient in Hollywood.

I remember watching Cojo on the Today Show. I confess that I don’t remember when he stopped appearing on the show. I also don’t remember hearing about his illness (probably because he was diagnosed in July 2004 while I was in the newborn blur of having two kids 2 and younger. Watching Cojo on the Today Show was a strange sort of fascination for me I think. I couldn’t decide if I thought he was funny or irritating.

His book is a quick read at a mere 155 pages. It is a memoir of his journey with polycystic kidney disease from his diagnosis in 2004 through his second transplant (a kidney received from his 70-year-old mother) in late 2005.

The book kept my attention and I finished it in 2 nights. Cojo’s dry sense of humor and clear vanity put a unique perspective on a depressing subject. Cojo is one of the lucky ones though. He found TWO live donors so that he didn’t have to spend years on dialysis like so many others with kidney disease are fated to do.

Is it bad that I found a part of me happy to read about a spoiled “celebrity” having problems that money could not solve? Maybe I liked reading how Cojo’s vanity suffered because of weight gain (caused mainly by steroids and anti-rejection medications). I enjoyed it a bit that he was the “fat” one that he used to insult.

If you’re in to the Hollywood scene, or are a Cojo fan I recommend the book. It’s a peek into the medical field, and their patients, Hollywood-style.