Paper Dollhouse: A Memoir

by Lisa Masterson

Overview

In Paper Dollhouse, Dr. Lisa Masterson traces a journey that begins with an unconventional childhood shaped by her larger-than-life mother, who broke away from an abusive husband in Louisiana to find new opportunities for the two of them in the West. With charm, determination, and a budget that often involves moving every few months to skip out on the rent, plus a lot of other creative financing, the two of them lead a hidden existence that allows Lisa to attend exclusive private schools and feed a brilliant mind.

Their life together is as heartbreakingly flimsy as the dollhouse she makes for a school project, using the only materials she has: notebook paper and tape. But the love and grit and resilience of those early days ground Lisa for harrowing years of medical training in an Ob/Gyn ward known as The Pit, and give her the fierce determination, after she loses her mother to cancer, to found clinics for pregnant women and babies in Africa and India. This unexpected story from the accomplished doctor and cohost of the Emmy Award–winning  medical talk show The Doctors will captivate, surprise, and inspire readers and her many daytime TV fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599219981
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/01/2011
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Dr. Lisa M. Masterson is a specialist in obstetrics, gynecology, infertility, adolescent gynecology, and family planning. She practices in Los Angeles at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, St. John’s, and UCLA/Santa Monica. She is also the founder of Maternal Fetal Care International (MFCI). Ten million U.S. viewers each week and a growing international audience know the dynamic mix of expertise, humor, and compassion that she brings to the syndicated daytime TV talk show The Doctors.

Read an Excerpt

My mom was my best friend and biggest supporter.. .. I owe everything to her unflagging belief in me. This is the story of the big love that came from a most unconventional woman. It’s messy, and sometimes dark, the way love always is. But it set some amazing futures in motion, and they’re part of her story, too.
—from the Introduction

Table of Contents

Introduction VII

1 You and Me against the World 1

2 Girl Alone 9

3 Always Moving 17

4 Wonder Woman 25

5 Moods and Secrets 33

6 Angel with a Briefcase 41

7 Betrayal 51

8 A Trapdoor into Medicine 59

9 Haynesville 69

10 Love 79

11 Liftoff 89

12 Meltdown 95

13 Cheap Tricks 105

14 Spiraling Up, Spiraling Down 109

15 Proposal 117

16 Anatomy, and a Wedding 125

17 Crashing 133

18 Luck 141

19 County 149

20 The Prize 159

21 Life-and-Death Situations 163

22 Without Her 173

23 Call Me Dr. Masterson 185

24 I Love Lucy 193

25 Butterflies and Oprah 201

26 Daniel's Mom 209

27 Opportunity 219

28 Charity 229

29 Diary of a Relief Trip, Eritrea, 2007 235

30 The Doctors 247

31 Blessings 255

Acknowledgments 262

Editorial Reviews

Moving debut memoir from obstetrician Masterson, who co-hosts the Emmy Award–winning TV show The Doctors.

With her 3-year-old daughter in tow and little money in her pocket, the author's mother moved from Haynesville, La., to Seattle to pursue a job teaching English at the University of Washington. Masterson's mother and grandmother were university-educated teachers, but in 1970s Louisiana, the lives of black people were still heavily circumscribed. Despite scrimping and saving and advancement up the career ladder in a succession of government jobs, her mother could not afford her daughter's tuition without the help of a series of men who supplied the extras. "I knew her humanity, good, bad, and ugly," the author writes. "She was my hero, but I knew her as a real person, perfect in her imperfection." Driven to make her mother proud, Masterson thrived in elementary and secondary school, always at the top of her class, but when she left home to attend college, her life threatened to spiral out of control as she experimented with sex and alcohol. Pulling herself together, she decided to pursue a career in medicine. Her mother died of cancer when the author was 28, but her unconditional love and belief in her daughter continues to inspire her with unwavering confidence.

An inspiring account of challenges faced and overcome, not only as a child but as a physician, mother, TV celebrity and the guiding spirit behind the Maternal Fetal Care International foundation, which she founded.

Kirkus Reviews