Sunshine: A Novel (An Avon Flare Book)
by Norma Klein
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Book Summary Information
Author: Norma KleinEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1982-08
ISBN: 0380000490
Number of pages: 223
Publisher: Avon Books (Mm)
Book Reviews of Sunshine: A Novel (An Avon Flare Book)
Book Review: Sentimental favorite
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a young people's "weepy" in the 70s tradition of "Love Story" about Kate, who has a baby daughter named Jill while still in her teens, and falls in love with the hippie folk musician Sam. Kate, Sam and Jill are very happy despite having no money, but then Kate is diagnosed with cancer, which turns out to be fatal. Before she dies, Kate uses a tape recorder to record her thoughts, feelings and advice about life for her baby daughter, since she won't be around to talk to her in person later. The book was based on the true story of Jacquelyn Helton, a young mother who died of cancer and recorded her thoughts and feelings as part of a research project before she passed away. I remember the book being a big hit in the 70s when it was also made into a TV movie featuring the music of John Denver (who was just getting to be very popular then) and spawned a TV series, a second TV movie and two sequels, all about what happened to Sam and Jill after Kate died.
I enjoyed this book when I read it in my very early 20s. It's a great read, although by today's standards it seems unrealistic. Kate rebels against her mother for no good reason, i.e. she's not being abused or neglected - just feeling misunderstood. She leaves home as a very young teen and gets married to a guy from a wealthy family who has a career and is some years older than her. You have to wonder why this guy would want to marry a very young, flighty girl like Kate, but as the book hints, these were the years when people usually were pressured to get married if they were going to live together/ have sex. Unsurprisingly, Kate isn't ready for the responsibilities of marriage including cooking, cleaning and dealing with snotty in-laws, but she does want to have a child, so when she gets pregnant she walks out on the marriage without telling her husband that she's pregnant, and takes up with Sam, whose hippie lifestyle is more to her liking. When Kate is diagnosed with cancer and is told that the best treatment is to amputate her leg, she refuses because she's afraid it will interfere with her ability to live a normal life and be a mother to baby Jill. The alternative treatment of radiation/ chemo creates awful side effects and Kate eventually chooses to stop treatment and die with dignity.
Kate's life choices look a little hinky nowadays, when teenage girls are encouraged to stay in school and plan for college, rather than marry and have children. Also, it's hard to understand why, if Kate really wants to be a mother to Jill more than anything else in the world, she doesn't let them amputate her leg right away because then she'd seemingly have the best chance of staying around for her child. Some commentators familiar with the true story on which the book was based have indicated that in real life, amputation didn't carry any guarantees and would have had a lot of bad side effects as well, even though the fictionalized book and the movie portray it as the best treatment. Nevertheless, Kate comes off as likable and her frequent emotional outbursts are understandable in light of the awful disease that's suddenly shown up, just when she was having the happiest time of her life. The author is a skilled writer who does a good job of portraying Kate's emotions as a cancer patient, although she had some great source material (the real memoirs of a real cancer patient).
The relationship between Kate and Sam is also touching and realistically portrayed. Sam's dedication to caring for the baby, Jill, would seem very unrealistic given how young he is and that Jill isn't even his child, except that he's shown to be imperfect in other ways so he seems like a person, not a saint. Sometimes he gets impatient at Kate and at the situation, he isn't always "there" for Kate when she needs him (including when she's just about to die) and he seeks consolation in the arms of the neighbor lady a couple of times. As for the physical aspects of being a cancer patient, such as pain, hair loss, throwing up, etc. they're downplayed somewhat, but are at least mentioned.
Overall this is a sweet story that focuses on the emotional aspects of being young, a mother, in love and dying. I liked it a lot better than "Love Story" for the simple reason that I didn't grow up around rich college people, and could relate to a story about a poor hippie couple much better than one about a rich preppie at college who gets disowned for marrying a working-class girl. Also, with all his faults, Sam is a pretty cool boyfriend and he and Kate do have a seemingly idyllic life playing music and hanging out with Jill in the beautiful mountains, before cancer rears its ugly head. I was also a fan of the TV movie, TV show and book sequels. So I have to give five stars to this nostalgic and sentimental favorite, even though in terms of realism it's probably about on the level of "Born Free" - has the basic story down but leaves a lot out.
Summary of Sunshine: A Novel (An Avon Flare Book)
Lots of scratching and random creasing. Front cover has a top and bottom corner crease. Back cover has shelf rubbing, a couple surface tears, also a edge spine crease. Little moisture sign on edge and a few pages are dog-earred on the bottom. No marks and intact. Ships very quickly and packaged carefully!Literature & Fiction Books
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