First, Cody is a fine writer with an eye for form and detail. His personal memoir of his struggle through chemo, more chemo, radiation and a bone marrow transplant is both particular and very universal. His willingness to reveal himself at his neediest and most deluded adds much to this brief but moving book, which encompasses reflections on art, relationships, his family, and more. ( )

When I saw Bloomsbury offering ARCs of this book, I was immediately interested. I loved the title and the cover and I thought it would be interesting to see what chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant was like from the patient’s point of view. While very interesting, the book didn’t quite live up to that side of things for me. This memoir – starting from the end of Josh’s first failed chemotherapy and finishing after his transplant, it contains many, many varied subjects.

First thing you should know is that it’s not really linear. Josh jumps straight into the action, then tells part of his back story every now and again. It’s like a puzzle, but occasionally you miss some pieces. To this day, I’m still not 100% what type of cancer Josh had (some might say this doesn’t matter, but it matters to me).

Second thing is that it’s a bit sexually graphic in places. You might want to hold the book up a bit to avoid over the shoulder readers on public transport.

The bone marrow transplant is more of a secondary plot line. You could say that Josh is reflecting on his life – sex, women, cocaine, hallucinogenic dreams, music and general knowledge. Just as you get interested in one topic, he changes to something else. There is often no introduction to the next topic, which can be confusing to the casual reader. It’s a rambling stream of consciousness.

I read a proof copy, but there were a couple of errors in terms of drug doses – wrong units used so Josh was either getting a massive overdose or tiny dose. Hopefully these have been corrected in the final version, as I wouldn’t want others going through the same thing getting worried.

One good thing is that Josh never rambles on about ‘why me’? He is always out to beat his cancer, no holds barred. In summary, I’d say this is better touted as the musings of a young man in a big city, rather than about the cancer so much.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for giving me the opportunity to read this.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com ( )