Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad (2021)
This book is a memoir of a young woman who, at age 22, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. It started with an uncontrollable and annoying itch. Shortly after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad set off for Paris to begin a career as a journalist. When she collapsed, she soon found herself on a flight back to New York where she was given a 35% chance of survival.
While isolated in the hospital, she began to document her treatments, first in a blog, and later in a regular column in the New York Times. The response to her columns was phenomenal and soon she began receiving letters, emails and beginning correspondences with others who were similarly situated.
Shortly before being diagnosed, the author met “Will”. They instantly fell for each other. She feared that he would leave her when he learned she was so ill. He didn’t. He stuck by her throughout her treatments, stayed with her in the hospital, and ensured that she was getting proper care. [Spoiler Alert: When she is nearly in remission, their relationship began to faulter when he needed space for his well-being. She gave him an ultimatum, and, to her surprise, he left. Within months, she had found another lover, and when will wanted to reconcile, it was too late.]
Once Jaouad was deemed in remission, she learned how to drive and decided to set out on a 100-day solo road trip across the country to experience her new freedom and to meet some of her “pen-pals” who responded to her blog and newspaper columns. The time alone on the drive allowed her to reflect on her life and her relationships formed during her illness.
The book’s title comes from a line in Susan Sontag’s memoir, Illness as a Metaphor, where Sontag noted that everyone is born with dual citizenship in the kingdom of wellness and the kingdom of sickness. As Jaouad recounts her experience, she realized just how hard it was to adjust in moving from one “kingdom” to the other.
Read: May 11, 2022
4 Stars
