Between Two Kingdoms – Suleika Jaouad – 4 stars

[Linda C]

Suleika Jaouad's memoir is broken into 2 parts with the first covering her diagnosis of and treatment for leukemia with background on her earlier life and family. The second part follows her on a journey to visit some of the people whom she met in person or online in connection with her blog and NYT articles on dealing with cancer and the treatment's side effects.

She is very honest about what she has to deal with. She openly discusses the people around her through the process: her parents, her boyfriend, friends, the doctors, and other patients. She does not always come across well in dealing with some people and in some of the choices she made. But I give her credit for presenting it all.

The 100 Days of her journey (length determined by the date she needed to return for more testing) were particularly interesting in getting a wide variety of perspectives on people dealing with sick loved ones, being sick themselves, adjusting to recovery after lengthy treatments and some people who just connected with her because they saw her situation relating to something in their lives. It offers her a chance for introspection and to recognize some of the things she could have done differently and how she might move forward. Well worth the read.

[Booknblues]

I found it to be a worthy read as well.