On Mortality

If you only read one book about living with cancer, this is the one to read. I ordered it as soon as my sister alerted me to its publication last June, and then it arrived, and my mom read it all in one sitting before bringing it to me to read. It’s written so beautifully, and contains so much insight. Among my favorite parts:

I am reminded of an image that one of cousins — a woman who lost her husband to a swift and brutal cancer last year — suggested to me recently over email: that living with a terminal disease is like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss. But that living without disease is also like walking on a tightrope over an insanely scary abyss, only with some fog or cloud cover obscuring the depths a bit more — sometimes the wind blowing it off a little, sometimes a nice dense cover. (p 243)