Suleika Jaouad

The author was only 22/23-years old when she was diagnosed with leukemia. She had just finished university and was looking forward to her future. She had just started a new relationship (a few months previous) and the two of them had just moved to Paris. They came back to the US and moved in with her parents so she could get the treatment she needed. The treatment went on for 3-4 years, and it took a toll on her relationship.

She did recover, but wasn’t sure what to do next. She decided to show more take a road trip around the perimeter of the US and she planned to visit people she had met or just corresponded with while she was being treated for her cancer. She had been writing newspaper columns during her treatment, so she was known throughout the US.

I found the first half, with all the medicine and treatments and trying to hold her relationship together much more interesting than her road trip. I almost lowered my rating due to the road trip, but decided to leave it where it is. The most interesting person (for me) she met on the road trip was the man on death row in Texas. He wrote to her early on in her cancer journey, and the parallels were really surprising to me. Something that scared me about the book was how much support and help she needed throughout. I live alone and likely always will. My mom has had breast cancer twice. How will I take care of myself and my cats if I was to become so ill that I need those kinds of treatments? It’s a scary thought. show less

I listened to the audiobook read by the author. It's definitely one of the best books I have read this year - not only is it a heartbreaking story of a cancer survivor who does not shy away from the bad and the ugly and reveals us, the ignorant healthy, that surviving is not living and the remission period may be harder than the treatment itself; but it is also brilliantly written. The book feels like two books in one - the first part is about Suleika's journey in the Kingdom of the Ill; the show more second part is about her attempts to reenter the Kingdom of the Healthy. The second part is also about her road trip around the United States after just having passed the driver's license. She visits a lot of people who wrote to her while she was in the hospital, but also encounters complete strangers on the way. Her and Will's love story is heartbreaking; maybe the most heartbreaking part of the book. A book that makes you think a lot about life, death and everything in between. show less

I knew this was going to be a tough read for me, which is why I’ve continuously put it off for quite some time. I was fine until the moment that her parents and partner went to leave her for her first night in the hospital when she begins her treatment.

It instantly took me back to the many moments when my family would leave me at the hospital, me urging them to go and get some rest while secretly wishing someone could stay. Then hearing the click as the door shut, the whispered goodbyes show more fading away, the silence overwhelming me, my only companions for the night are the humming machines and whatever mindless show I had on the TV at the time. It is incredible how reading those few sentences took me back to those moments so vividly, the feelings still so powerful that I to put the book down and wait for my eyes to clear as tears threatened to flow, silently telling myself that this was just the beginning of her journey. If she was brave enough to write about it then I would be brave enough to read it.

There are parts that were seeing my worst nightmares realized on the pages, and I felt my heart break for this young woman and this horrible ordeal that she had to endure. There are moments of adult themes and language, but it’s not overboard and stays true to life, never taking away from the main narrative.

This was a passion project at the deepest and most primal level that takes you through the authors cancer battle. It is raw, real, and given even more depth when you listen to the audiobook version. Though it was a tough read for me I have no regrets. I applaud the author for being so transparent and sharing her harrowing journey.

*I have voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book which I received from the Random House Publishing through NetGalley. All views and opinions expressed are completely honest, and my own. show less

What an amazing story! The way Jaouad details her illness really shows the depth of her suffering and just how far she had to rebound. When she described cancer as "greedy" for all it consumed: her health, her plans, her relationships, it seemed an apt response. She had just graduated Princeton, gotten a job in France, met a great guy, Will and seemed to be on top of the world, aside from feeling pretty crappy physically. How easy it is to talk ourselves out of illness and make excuses for show more avoiding medical attention! By the time she finally saw a Dr. who could accurately diagnose her with the rare bone marrow leukemia she had, her prognosis was grave. She had two separate 9 mo. rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant from her brother. Will was a helpful, hopeful caregiver for much of the time, despite how difficult it made their relationship. It ultimately was about a four-year time span until she was cancer free, but that situation had its own challenges. How to live outside an ever-present shadow? During her illness, she turned to writing during what she and her family called the 100 Day project. Everyone took on something new and unrelated to cancer to try to change their focus and energy. She got hooked up with the NYT to write a column called Life, Interrupted and many people wrote back to her as a result. In her healthy afterlife, she decided to take a road trip, (after learning to drive!) alone with her dog Oscar, to visit some of them, or their family if they had passed away. The title comes from a fitting Susan Sontag quote: "Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick." Neither one is easy, nor is it easy to bridge them, but Jaouad tells the story with grace and honesty. show less