From the author of the critically acclaimed story collection "How This Night Is Different" comes a dark, arresting, fearlessly funny story of one y...
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Sep 03, 2008
Jessica
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Dahlia is a 29 year old, profane, pot smoking, leach who lives off her father; perennially consoling him with promises of graduate school. Truthfully, Dahlia doesn't have much interest in anything outside her Venice, California home. When a grand mal seizure brings a large and malignant brain tumor to the forefront of her consciousness, Dahlia must undergo a series of painful treatments and fight to survive. But the truth is, she isn't sure that she wants to fight or survive. Characteristically,
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Jan 01, 2009
Kari
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eh. When I first started this book I was really into it. I thought there was some interesting stuff between the mother and the daughter, and very honest commentary when Dahlia was reflecting back on her childhood. (I am the mother of 2 daughters.) But then, it just got annoying, and I had to force myself to skim to the end. (I rarely stop reading a book I have made it to the half way mark of.) I picked this up from the recommendation by EW, and I understand, kindof, why they liked it--it's g
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Jul 17, 2008
Elaina
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If reading books like "Chicken Soup for the Soul" make you want to gag, if chirpy, optimistic one-liners make you want to bang your head against the wall, then this book is for YOU. I ended up really liking this book - even though it's a downer topic, it was also hilarious at times too. Essentially the book asks, "Should a wasted life be mourned?" I think the answer is Yes.
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Dec 30, 2008
Jorayne
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
Jun 09, 2008
Krista
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A very readable rant from the perspective of a messed-up JAP in her late twenties with terminal cancer.
Summed up beautifully in an aside aimed at the reader;
"Why so profane, ask the bookclubbers? Because we are talking here about death, and f*ck you if you don't like it: You're going to die, too. This is serious. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck."
Dying young is like those days when you just can't bring yourself to go to bed ...
"Night Disease: th More...
Summed up beautifully in an aside aimed at the reader;
"Why so profane, ask the bookclubbers? Because we are talking here about death, and f*ck you if you don't like it: You're going to die, too. This is serious. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck."
Dying young is like those days when you just can't bring yourself to go to bed ...
"Night Disease: th More...
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Jan 31, 2009
Natalie
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I was expecting certain things from this novel: a smart-ass protagonist, contemporary cultural references, dark humor, and maybe some cheesy Life Lessons since it's about terminal illness. Thankfully, I found only the first three.
Female anti-heroes are pretty rare -- and Dahlia is prizeworthy as a creation who will stick in your memory. Prickly-sympathetic, her rough edges are not dulled by platitudes or chicklit conventions. The novel's structure is in fact the anti-chick novel, More...
Female anti-heroes are pretty rare -- and Dahlia is prizeworthy as a creation who will stick in your memory. Prickly-sympathetic, her rough edges are not dulled by platitudes or chicklit conventions. The novel's structure is in fact the anti-chick novel, More...
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May 02, 2008
Betsy
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Can a novel about a twenty-something with a fatal brain tumor really be funny? This one was, largely because the potty-mouthed, pothead protagonist Dahlia Finger has such a bad attitude about life in general and cancer in particular. She's pissed off and honest and doesn't put up with any B.S. Got to admire that. The author starts each chapter with a sunny snippet from a cancer advice book, then reveals another interesting chunk of Dahlia's mess of a life which includes near abandonment early in
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Oct 09, 2009
Melanie
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Pulled this out of the book closet. Hard to say I "enjoyed" it, exactly, but I really liked it, found it well-written and engaging, a, yes, funny book about cancer. The main character, the eponymous Dahlia, is dying of brain cancer. How does Albert keep this from cloying tragedy? Dahlia is a pain in the neck. At the point in her life when she is diagnosed with the cancer, she is living in a cute little house in Venice, CA, which her father bought for her, and sitting around all da
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Dec 29, 2008
Rita
rated it:
There are spoilers here, I guess.
I didn't read the whole book. I couldn't. I thought it was going to be like Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz, or the movie Last Holiday, but it became apparent a few chapters in that there was to be no chick lit fun to be had, no misdiagnosis, no lessons lessons learned where the spoiled girl has a new lease on life. So, I just couldn't keep reading, even though it seemed like a very good book--well written, darkly humorous, smart, sarcastic and t More...
I didn't read the whole book. I couldn't. I thought it was going to be like Night Swimming by Robin Schwarz, or the movie Last Holiday, but it became apparent a few chapters in that there was to be no chick lit fun to be had, no misdiagnosis, no lessons lessons learned where the spoiled girl has a new lease on life. So, I just couldn't keep reading, even though it seemed like a very good book--well written, darkly humorous, smart, sarcastic and t More...
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Aug 07, 2009
Kim
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Cancer is not usually a humorous topic. The Book of Dahlia by Elsa Albert, however, manages to bring levity to this weighty subject matter.
While some readers may be put off by Albert’s sharp, gallows, humor, it should be noted that the author lost her brother, David, to a brain tumor when he was twenty nine and she was nineteen. Hence, she knows the delicate terrain she’s traversing.
Dahlia Finger is not a saintly, dying, heroine like Little Women's Beth. Rather Dahlia i More...
While some readers may be put off by Albert’s sharp, gallows, humor, it should be noted that the author lost her brother, David, to a brain tumor when he was twenty nine and she was nineteen. Hence, she knows the delicate terrain she’s traversing.
Dahlia Finger is not a saintly, dying, heroine like Little Women's Beth. Rather Dahlia i More...
Apr 18, 2009
Catrina
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I really appreciated Albert's ability to make incredibly funny (even hilarious at times) a novel about a young woman with terminal brain cancer. Very hard to do. In fact, I thought it was brilliant. There wasn't a single moment in which I felt saddened by her cancer. However, there were other aspects of her life and situation in which I WAS able to sympathize. With that being said, the sarcastic humor may have been the only thing about the book that I felt was spectacular, or even good, really.
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Jan 06, 2012
Merredith
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My friend recomended this book to me and I really tried to read it. This is a novel about a woman in her late 20s named Dahlia. She is spoiled and lazy. Her dad pays for everything, she has no job, no hobbies, all she does is smoke pot and watch tv. She doesn't even really have friends. One day she has a seizure and discovers she has a brain tumor and is dying. It's sad. But even though i feel badly for Dahlia, she's annoying. She's grating and her family is grating and the story is boring. I o
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Feb 27, 2009
David Jay
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I got this book because of the incredible reviews. (EW ranked it as the number 2 book of 2008). For me it was just a matter of poor timing--probably not the best book for me to read at this moment in my life.
Dahlia is a 29 year old ne'er do well--no friends, no job, all she wants to do (and all she pretty much does) is lay on the couch all day, smoke pot, and watch tv, until she has a grand mal seizure at the end of chapter one and is diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. Uplifting an More...
Dahlia is a 29 year old ne'er do well--no friends, no job, all she wants to do (and all she pretty much does) is lay on the couch all day, smoke pot, and watch tv, until she has a grand mal seizure at the end of chapter one and is diagnosed with stage 4 brain cancer. Uplifting an More...
Aug 04, 2008
Renee
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Dahlia is a 29 year old depressed, witty young woman who learns she has an aggressive, inoperable brain tumor. This book deals with Dahlia acknowledging the end of her life is near. However, after a life time of annoying interactions of her Jewish-mother, this may not seem like the worse thing....
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Jan 14, 2009
Allison
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I found this book to be really heartbreaking. I'm not sure what to write in here about it except that the bright pink cover is misleading.
The novel is a portrait of a very angry, lonely, and lost woman named Dahlia Finger, who finds out she is going to lose the life she never knew what to do with in the first place. Instead of making amends she maintains her hard feelings, and continues to do what she did before she knew her life was ending. Somehow, the story feels the opposite More...
The novel is a portrait of a very angry, lonely, and lost woman named Dahlia Finger, who finds out she is going to lose the life she never knew what to do with in the first place. Instead of making amends she maintains her hard feelings, and continues to do what she did before she knew her life was ending. Somehow, the story feels the opposite More...
Mar 15, 2009
sarah
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It’s funny to me that most of the reviews I’ve read of this novel, the central point of the story, arguably the reason we meet Dahlia – her cancer diagnosis, for the love of god – is glossed over. Dahlia is annoying. Dahlia is a slacker. Dahlia is a miserable fuck who can’t pry her privileged ass off the couch, and I’m glad I don’t know her in real life. Sure, all of these things might be true. However, it is these qualities which allow the real brilliance of the story to shine through. The way
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Dec 02, 2008
Katie
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"The Book of Dahlia" is probably the funniest book about cancer I've ever read and certainly one of the most honest.
I loved the main character, whom, I pretty sure one is supposed to loath. Dahlia Finger's malignant brain tumor isn't going to get in the way of her bitterness and bad attitude. I have a thing for bitter people. I can't help it.
Dahlia's pre-cancer life is deftly intertwined with snapshots of her treatment and current musings, and snippets fro More...
I loved the main character, whom, I pretty sure one is supposed to loath. Dahlia Finger's malignant brain tumor isn't going to get in the way of her bitterness and bad attitude. I have a thing for bitter people. I can't help it.
Dahlia's pre-cancer life is deftly intertwined with snapshots of her treatment and current musings, and snippets fro More...
Aug 19, 2009
Amy S.
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Dahlia Finger is dying. We know this from the very get go. But even before her first grand mal you get a sense that what she's doing in her little house in Venice isnt really living either. So this book makes the point, if you sit around and waste your life and hold on to pain instead of moving forward, if you never really do Anything (yes the capital A) is your life forfiet? We flip from Dahlia's illness in the present, to her past. Truthfully, her past sucked. She bitches a lot about it
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Jul 21, 2009
Bess
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Well ... it was really interesting in a lot of ways. No, I think the main character, Dahlia, was really believable, complicated, and funny. I appreciated certain things about this book, like the fact that antihero was a woman (when it is typically a male character) and that she was unrelenting in her bitterness, anger, and selfishness, even in the face of death. However, I also think there are some things in our lives we have control over and if we don't do anything about that, well, if we're mi
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Apr 21, 2011
Carrie
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What in the world was the point of this book?
Annoying Person (Dahlia Finger, age 29) discovers that she has an incurable brain tumor. So she muses on her Annoying Life and Annoying Family (complete with over-doting father, absent mother, and quasi-sadistic brother) to see what might possibly have been the Cause of her Annoying Cancer. There's no plot, no story line, no character development. No one changes, becomes a better person, a different sort of person, or even a worse person. More...
Annoying Person (Dahlia Finger, age 29) discovers that she has an incurable brain tumor. So she muses on her Annoying Life and Annoying Family (complete with over-doting father, absent mother, and quasi-sadistic brother) to see what might possibly have been the Cause of her Annoying Cancer. There's no plot, no story line, no character development. No one changes, becomes a better person, a different sort of person, or even a worse person. More...
Apr 15, 2011
lil'mel
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This book is not for everyone but it is witty and the humor is refreshingly snarky.I have read other reviews that basically all amounted to (I didn't like this book because I didn't like the character)which I found strange because you weren't supposed to like Dahlia. Hell, she didn't even like herself, but that was the point, wasn't it. She is the self described "antiheroine". This do nothing, weed smoking, lazy, everybody owe's me something daddy's girl finds out she has terminal brai
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Sep 29, 2011
Sarah
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I loved the shit out of this book. I bought copies of it for two of my close friends and only after that realized that perhaps this book is not for everyone. I know I have a different sense of humor and as such found myself laughing at the narration when other people might be frustrated with Dahlia. So Dahlia isn't the kind of person I would want to be in my life, in fact I'm sure I would avoid her at all costs but she makes for an interesting character and it's a fantastic story. I must also ad
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Aug 11, 2011
Karen
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Well, you definitely have to be in the mood for this one. Dahlia is a 29 year old woman with a terminal brain tumor. She is not the typical heroine of that type of story - being brave, taking control of her treatment, making peace with her family, and so on. Rather, she continues to vent her anger and engage in her slacker-y lifestyle. What earned this book 4 stars from me, was Albert's brilliant writing and black humor, as well as her heartbreaking explanation of Dahlia's history. I may hav
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Nov 19, 2009
Christina
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Unexpectedly touching. This book about a stoned layabout who gets a fatal brain tumor was funny, harsh and a little gutwrenching. Albert does an exceptional job making Dahlia into a person. She's a cyncial, narcissistic pothead, but the underlying reasons why are both touching and compelling. Like The Frog King, you want to shake the main character repeatedly because why they're being an unrepentant asshole, you care about them and want them to stop being such an asshole. A good book, though not
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Jun 11, 2009
Rosa
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There are so many ways that authors can deal with death and dying. In "The Book of Dahlia", by Elisa Albert, dying is a bitter thing. Albert writes about Dahlia Finger, a twenty-nine year old, spoiled Jewish woman who gets diagnosed with brain cancer. Albert has the reader follow Dahlia after she is diagnosed as she revisits the history of her life, her family, and her friendships. Each chapter of the book is written like a self-help novel, but there is nothing self-help about this boo
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Mar 28, 2009
Tiffany
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I started reading this book while I was on vacation at Disney World. Definitely not a read for the Happiest Place on Earth! Though it is not the type pf book I would have chosen myself (This was part of a Round Robin Reading Group), I was hooked from the start.
The story follows Dahila Finger as she goes from being a lazy couch potato, to a cancer patient who has been told she has an inoperable brain tumor. The book is told in a flashback/present day form so at times the switching More...
The story follows Dahila Finger as she goes from being a lazy couch potato, to a cancer patient who has been told she has an inoperable brain tumor. The book is told in a flashback/present day form so at times the switching More...
Jan 23, 2009
Brandi
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The Book of Dahlia was a very interesting read for me. Her attitude and life choices are evidence of failed parenting and over-all family disfunction at its worst. Dahlia is a very pessimistic anti-hero. At some points in the book I couldn't help but feel sorry for her and at other times I wanted to scream at her to just GROW UP and let it go. The book had many laugh out loud moments for me-mostly her attitude towards her d-bag brother and the author of her chosen 'self-help' book. I enjoye
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May 26, 2009
Andy
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An unexpected pleasure. It is clear from the start that the narrator will die from a brain tumor. The main character was someone I could well relate to: a 29 yo, never married, smart and literary, insecure Jewish woman who had been reckless with drugs and alcohol and men and had dysfunctional relationships with her family. Yet, there was a lot of humor and an overall perspective that while her life was not as fulfilling as she would have hoped, she could still appreciate the meaning and experien
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Aug 17, 2009
Shari
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This is on of those books that makes me wonder why the author would write it. It is about a twenty-nine year old woman who has failed to thrive, become independent or reach any sort of potential and who is diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor and dies. I suppose it is about how even though she uses her shitty childhood (her mother literally abandoned her and her bother emotionally abandoned her) as a reason to not grow up – when it is time to die she is not at all ready to go. Not an easy book
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Sep 13, 2009
Rachel
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I remember debating, when I read Elisa's book of short stories, if I might like a profane protagonist better in her novel, and indeed I did. Dahlia's dark history made me forgive her in a way that I didn't feel for the others.
I suppose my reaction to Dahlia was largely personal- I felt awful for her when she was being victimized and trod upon, and my sympathy tended to dissipate when she'd screw around with her friends who cared about her or especially when she got a near-perfect sc More...
I suppose my reaction to Dahlia was largely personal- I felt awful for her when she was being victimized and trod upon, and my sympathy tended to dissipate when she'd screw around with her friends who cared about her or especially when she got a near-perfect sc More...
