{"product_id":"is-this-a-funny-story-a-stage-four-memoir-paperback","title":"Is This a Funny Story?: A Stage-Four Memoir - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eEllen Vanstone\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA darkly comic, posthumously published memoir about mortality, memory, and the messy business of being human.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe telephone call makes her legs go weak and forces her to sit down: \"\u003ci\u003eThe tests results from your biopsy came back. They're positive for malignancy.\"\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEllen Vanstone, a writer and journalist of brilliance and biting wit, reacts by carrying on with what she's always done. Making notes. Putting it down on paper in an attempt to make sense of her new reality of drug trials, medical procedures and personal upheaval.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere's also the past to be confronted. Unresolved issues with her siblings. The guilt and shame she still feels about breaking up with the father of her daughter decades earlier over a man who turned out to be the world's worst boyfriend. The chorus of imaginary enemies whispering, \u003ci\u003eEllen got this because she deserved it, with her reckless, job-quitting, peripatetic, party-smoking, binge-drinking, promiscuous ways.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd ever the writer, she worries about what tone to take: \"Should I aim for sad and profound? Or lighthearted and entertaining?\" The memoir she came up with is all of those things and more: unforgettable, moving, and, of course, funny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eEllen Vanstone\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Winnipeg, where she rowed with the Canoe Club and played volleyball at the University. She moved to Toronto to study journalism at Ryerson University (now TMU) and worked for every major newspaper and magazine, as an editor and a multiple-award-winning writer. In 1999, she embarked on a successful television writing career, cocreating the long-running Rookie Blue, as well as working on At The Hotel, Departure and Diggstown. In one of her last texts to her publisher in the fall of 2025, she said: \"I would prefer 'she died' instead of 'she passed.'\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 152\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 7 x 5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 01, 2026\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54089525625139,"sku":"9781997701590","price":26.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/C4S247kDmC9781997701590.webp?v=1789592027","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/products\/is-this-a-funny-story-a-stage-four-memoir-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}