Review: Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted (by Suleika Jaouad)

My Rating: 5 stars

I had actually received an ARC of Suleika Jaouad’s memoir a couple of months before it was first published back in February 2021, but with the COVID pandemic in full force, plus all the chaos and uncertainty that accompanied the situation at the time, I decided to put off reading this until I felt ready to handle such a heavy read.  Of course, as these things usually go, life and work got the better of me and here I am, only able to get to this one more than 5 years later.  But in a way, things worked out in the end, as just getting to this memoir now meant that I got to listen to it via audiobook, with the author narrating her story first hand, which added a personal element that made the reading experience more poignant and emotional (the audiobook also features music by Suleika’s husband, Jon Batiste, which made this even more memorable).

In her memoir, Suleika recounts her journey battling leukemia, from the moment she first receives the devastating diagnosis on the cusp of her 23^rd birthday, through the nearly 4 years of grueling treatment that she had to undergo, and then her subsequent recovery, including having to learn how to re-enter the world and restart her life anew.  She achieves the latter by embarking on a 100-day road trip where, accompanied by her dog Oscar, she travels across the country to meet several of the people who had written to her when she was in the hospital – a trip that proves critical in helping Suleika come to terms with her own harrowing journey “between the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick.”

Given the subject matter, this was not an easy read by any means, as Suleika provides a brutally honest and candid account of her experience and I will be honest in saying that some of the more explicit descriptions of her illness and treatment were a struggle to get through.  With that said though, I found Suleika’s story not only moving and inspiring, but also poignantly resonant given the various battles with cancer that my own family has endured.  I especially admire Suleika’s resilience and strength in the face of the huge toll – physical, mental, psychological, emotional – that such an illness can take on both the person afflicted as well as the family and friends around them.

As is often the case after I read such moving memoirs as this one, I felt compelled to read up on how Suleika Jaouad is doing currently and was saddened to learn that her leukemia returned in both 2022 and 2024, and she had to get a second bone marrow transplant as well as continue chemotherapy - but at the same time, it’s heartening to see the huge community of family, friends, and fans rallying around her with love and support, helping her get through each harrowing ordeal.  I wish her and her loved ones all the best!

 

Review: My Husband's Wife (by Alice Feeney)

My Rating: 4 stars 

It is not lost on me that we are almost halfway through the month of February and so far, I have only finished 1 book (compared to the 10 books that I read in January, which was definitely a record for me).  Though with that said, I am not actually complaining, as I kind of already knew that my reading life would take a hit this month due to how busy I would be with several birthdays to celebrate (both within my family and among close friends), various Lunar New Year festivities to attend, and of course, watching the Olympics (specifically the figure skating events, since I’ve been a fan of the sport since the 1980s).  So basically, not getting to as many books this month isn’t a bad thing at all, it just means that I will need to do a bit more catching up next month, which is totally fine by me.

One book that I wanted to make sure I got to this month was Alice Feeney’s latest thriller / suspense novel My Husband’s Wife, which actually came out in January.  Feeney has been an “auto read” author for me ever since I read and was blown away by her debut novel Sometimes I Lie – so much so in fact that, without realizing it, I’m now actually a completist of her works (that is, until her next book comes out).  Prior to reading this newest work, I had seen several reviews which said, essentially, that this was Feeney’s best book to date – an assessment which, having read all her books, I can’t really agree with.  Yes, this book was good and I would definitely rank it in the top 5 amongst her works, but I hesitate to use such a superlative as “the best book she’s written” so far. One thing I CAN agree on however is that this book is definitely Feeney’s most intricately plotted to date – though yes, just like with her previous books, there will also be some moments where suspension of disbelief is necessary in order to truly “enjoy” the reading experience.

When I first picked up Feeney’s newest book, it actually did take me quite a while to get into the story.  The first third or so of the book consists of chapters that mostly alternate between the first-person perspectives of the two main female protagonists, Eden Fox and Olivia Bird (“Birdy”) – two characters that I honestly did not like and could not stand (as I mentioned in my review of Feeney’s previous books, she seems to make her characters more and more unlikeable with each book).  In fact, the annoyance was so palpable this time around that I was actually tempted to DNF (which, for me, is a rare occurrence) – but of course, since this is Feeney after all, I pushed through my initial frustrations and started really getting into the story at about the midway point.  That’s also around the time that I realized there was a pattern to the way Feeney ends and starts each chapter (the first sentence of the new chapter is a variation of the last sentence of the previous chapter), which I initially thought was interesting but didn’t fully appreciate its significance until I got to the end of the book and figured out the way it connected seemingly disparate aspects of the story together.  I don’t want to say too much more about this, as I don’t want to give any part of the story away, but I mention this as something worth paying attention to while reading if possible.

In terms of the twists and turns, there were plenty of them this time around, and as expected from Feeney, several of them were brilliantly executed.  With this being the 8^th book of Feeney’s that I’ve read, I’m plenty familiar with her style by now, so I knew better than to take any part of the plot at face value.  Despite being able to figure out a good portion of the ending early on (I’ve learned to read some of the textual clues that Feeney drops throughout the story), I was still quite surprised by some of the “twists” that I definitely didn’t see coming. For me, this is part of the “fun” of reading Feeney’s works – on the one hand, being familiar enough with her style to be able to pick up on certain clues the first time around that other readers new to her books might have missed, while on the other hand, still being surprised by particular elements of the ending and “big reveal.” 

With all that said, for those thinking about picking this one up, especially if it’s your first experience with Feeney’s works, I would suggest diving in with a clear mind and just going along for the ride without trying to dissect things too much.  While I eagerly await Feeney’s next book, I can’t help but wonder what type of twisted, mind-boggling adventure she will have in store for us next.  Hopefully we won’t have to wait long!