Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for gifting me a digital ARC of this amazing memoir by Suleika Jaouad - 5 stars!
Suleika was in college when she first started feeling symptoms - intense itchy and fatigue. After graduation, she moved to Paris and her boyfriend, Will, soon joined her. Life was good except that Suleika kept feeling worse. Finally, a doctor diagnosed her with leukemia and the world she knew was over. She flew back to New York and Will soon followed, being a constant presence with her and her parents as she began to fight for her life. For four years, she endured numerous rounds of chemo, a bone marrow transplant, clinical trials before finally being considered cured. But then the next phase of her life began - trying to create a new path, a new normal, a new reason to get up in the morning. While in the hospital, she began writing a column for the New York Times called Life, Interrupted. As a form of healing, she embarked on a solo 100-day road trip visiting people who had written to her in response to her columns.
This is a beautifully written book on an obviously difficult topic - a young person just starting her life being given only a 35% chance of survival. Suleika is brutally honest about all that she had to endure as well as the emotional toll it took on her, her family, and her relationships. She was honest about all of her feelings which was amazing to me that she could verbalize them - even at times entertaining the notion that it was easier when she was sick because then there was a plan and everyone had their assigned roles. It was a gripping story with so many life lessons for all of us. I live in the town right next to Saratoga, where Suleika spent most of her childhood and where her parents still live; on a personal note, I loved reading her thoughts about this area in her writing.
I hope this is only her first book - I can't wait to read more about the next chapters of her life after cancer. Highly recommended!
No comments:
Post a Comment