FICTION

Before I Go

by Colleen Oakley
Gallery: S. & S. Jan. 2015. 320p. ISBN 9781476761664. $24.99; ebk. ISBN 9781476761688. F
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At 27, psychology student Daisy Richmond receives her second diagnosis of breast cancer in four years. As her cancer is triple negative for hormone therapy and has spread throughout her body, she has few treatment options. Her husband, Jack, is a double-doctoral candidate in veterinary medicine mere months from graduation. Mere months. Even with a clinical trial, will Daisy survive that long? Daisy, Jack, and Daisy's best friend Kayleigh tiptoe around the inevitable. Patients often bemoan the inability of family and friends to know what to say upon hearing the cancer news. Yet Daisy is the one detaching herself from her always weepy mom, irresponsible Kayleigh, and beleaguered and confused Jack.
VERDICT The specifics of Daisy's disease are suggested here rather than described in detail, but cancer is palpable on every page. Readers will want simultaneously to hug Daisy and give her a good shake when she goes off the rails. Is she a bit too glib, too self-possessed for her situation? Oakley's debut sets her heroine off on a quest that might be a bit foolhardy, but Daisy bravely endures and discovers the healing power of love. Highly recommended for laugh-out-loud fans and the tearjerker set.
Reviewed by Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal , Oct 01, 2014
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