cover image Reconstructing Aphrodite

Reconstructing Aphrodite

. Syracuse University Press, $24.95 (96pp) ISBN 978-0-9660352-3-0

This empowering book presents photos of 21 women of all ages who have had breast reconstruction after surgery from breast cancer. In her introduction, plastic surgeon Eskenazi says,""This book is about much more than breast cancer. It is about renewal, resilience, and regeneration. It is also about reality, not the way we want life to be."" From there, Lorant's black-and-white photos offer a glimpse into the wonder of breast reconstruction. Kara, shown bare with her husband and in a wedding veil, explains that she had bilateral prophylactic surgery with immediate reconstruction. Upon being told by the doctor that she possessed a gene that would almost guarantee that she'd get breast cancer, she remembers thinking""every single woman on my mother's side of the family had breast cancer.... Then and there, I wanted both breasts off."" The women in the photos are courageous, and exhibit a beauty in their pride. An afterword explains and gives clinical examples of the breast reconstruction process.