A review by leahthebooklover
Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted by Suleika Jaouad

4.5

Suleika Jaouad's memoir about her cancer battle, recovery, and its affect on her life and relationships is a compelling story. I appreciated that the audio version is read by the author herself. I always feel author read memoirs are more authentic. I was not familiar with her story, even though she documented her cancer journey in a widely read New York Times column and video series called "Life, Interrupted" and is the creator of "The Isolation Journals" that have inspired a creative spark in thousands of people (especially during the pandemic shutdown) through weekly journaling prompts. In addition, she is married to grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste. First and foremost, though, aside from all the accolades, she is a fighter, a survivor, and an empathetic champion of living fully even while enduring the hard things life sometimes throws at you. Her memoir does not shy away from describing the indignities the human body has to endure while undergoing cancer treatment. Jaouad's cancer, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) was diagnosed in 2011 when she was 22 years old, a recent college graduate living in Paris while pursuing her dream to become a foreign correspondent. As one mysterious symptom upon another plagued her young body, she naively ignored them, attributing them to her busy and sometimes chaotic lifestyle. Finally, just as she is hired for her first job in journalism, her health reaches a crisis point and she finds herself on a plane heading back home in a fatigued, delirious state. Following a bone marrow biopsy she receives her diagnosis. Thus begins her citizenship in the "kingdom of the sick". 

"Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” Susan Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor. “Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place." (book quote). 

Suleika would spend most of her 20's as a citizen of the "other place" When she was finally declared camcer free, after years of chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and isolation resulting from a decimated immune system, she felt the "kingdom of the well" was the foreign territory. Then she decided to embark on a cross-country road trip with her rescue dog Oscar as her only companion. Her itinerary included visits with more than 20 people who had corresponded with her during her illness, people who had learned of her from her NYT column, people who had also found themselves living "between two kingdoms" and yet made a way forward. This journey would prove transformative for Jaouad. The first part of her memoir describes her cancer journey - her life in the kingdom of the sick, while the second part describes her road trip, a journey to find her way back to the kingdom of the well. In both journeys she discovers the importance of creativity and community.

"When you’re suffering—enduring some kind of rage or heartbreak, disappointment or plain human idiocy—it can feel like you’re alone, like you’re the only person who’s struggling this way. Often, the impulse in those moments is not to share or create but to hide." (Jaouad's website)

"The power of story is to heal and to sustain. And if we are brave enough to tell our own story, we realize we're not alone, again and again." (book quote)

Update: in 2021, Suleika Jaouad announced her cancer had returned. She underwent a second bone marrow transplant in April 2022 and continues to write, speak, advocate, and inspire. I do not know if she is still in treatment or if she is considered in remission. 

Media tie-in: next up in my Netflix queue: "American Symphony" released in November 2023, it explores a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste, chronicling his career in music (including his 11 nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards) and the struggles his wife, Suleika Jaouad, faces with leukemia.