Juliane Corn Lee offers a book that will engage Guam readers from its first chapter.
Older readers may remember some of the people and early references, and younger readers will learn from the references to the Guam of the author’s childhood.
The granddaughter of her “Papa” Charlie Corn — she spent her privileged childhood years in a Guam setting and surrounded by family. That family included Charles L. Corn — who began his entrepreneurial journey in the Philippines before moving to Guam and founding a business and real estate group that extended to Hong Kong, and where Guam life for Lee was entwined with Chinese culture.
Moving to San Francisco for a year and then back to Guam for high school, Lee would return with her family to San Francisco and college.
In April 1988 she suffered a massive stroke and was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. While the book will resonate with anyone who has had cancer or been close to a cancer or stroke sufferer, her story is not depressing. Lee’s ability to remember and self-analyze the experience lends it a quality that takes the reader along on the journey through the various stages of her treatment and steps to recovery through physical therapy.
There is even humor.
Lee finishes her story in San Francisco in 2010 — 22 years after her bone marrow transplant. Writing about her experience, her journal entries evolved into essays and eventually her book. She now works with the American Cancer Society in California.
Introduced to Guam Business Magazine by Marisha Artero of the American Cancer Society’s West Region in Guam, Lee was scheduled to travel to the island in May to promote her book, but understandably her plans collapsed. “I do plan to reschedule my visit at a later time,” she says.
On the last pages of “Thunderclap,” Lee writes, “When the unspeakable happens, it is beyond our control, yet these situations allow us the opportunity to choose what follows.”
There is no better time to read an inspirational book that offers something different and far removed from our lives behind COVID masks and the necessities dealing with the challenges of today’s economic uncertainty.
Thunderclap is available in paperback and on Kindle.
