The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
chrish's review
5.0
I don't remember who introduced me to this book, but it was in the Winter of 2006. I was in the middle of radiation treatment for testicular cancer. Some of the more existential parts of Robert's story helped me understand and cope with my own thoughts and feelings at the time, but I didn't relate as well to some of the details. I was single, no kids, didn't have to undergo chemotherapy, and certainly wasn't on the verge of career success.
Each time I read it, it's a new experience. First, I saw it through the lens of my own cancer experience. Crying at the fear of death, laughing at the dick jokes and attractions to the nurses, gleaning some hope from the message. Then I started re-reading it when people I care about starting going through their own battles with cancer. I could see it through their eyes as well. The difficult position that a cancer diagnosis puts on a spouse and children. The upheaval of so many lives that I didn't have to experience. (I was single, lived alone, and my family lived 500 miles away.) I have a new perspective each time I pick this book up. This latest reread hit me particularly hard. It was the first time I'd read it as a married man. I cried through the whole thing, imagining a spouse having to deal with me during treatment.
This reread was brought on by my stepmom's diagnosis. I had recommended the book to my dad many years ago, when his boss received a cancer diagnosis. My dad enjoyed the book, maybe even more than I did, and so he also recommends it to anyone with the Big C. Now, as his wife is about to go through the same unpleasantness as Robert, we have a common language to speak when figuring out what he needs to be for her. She is beginning down a difficult path and this book will be a tool to help him empathize.
Each time I read it, it's a new experience. First, I saw it through the lens of my own cancer experience. Crying at the fear of death, laughing at the dick jokes and attractions to the nurses, gleaning some hope from the message. Then I started re-reading it when people I care about starting going through their own battles with cancer. I could see it through their eyes as well. The difficult position that a cancer diagnosis puts on a spouse and children. The upheaval of so many lives that I didn't have to experience. (I was single, lived alone, and my family lived 500 miles away.) I have a new perspective each time I pick this book up. This latest reread hit me particularly hard. It was the first time I'd read it as a married man. I cried through the whole thing, imagining a spouse having to deal with me during treatment.
This reread was brought on by my stepmom's diagnosis. I had recommended the book to my dad many years ago, when his boss received a cancer diagnosis. My dad enjoyed the book, maybe even more than I did, and so he also recommends it to anyone with the Big C. Now, as his wife is about to go through the same unpleasantness as Robert, we have a common language to speak when figuring out what he needs to be for her. She is beginning down a difficult path and this book will be a tool to help him empathize.
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