Down to the Bone: A Leukemia Story by Catherine Pioli

 

I started this beautifully self-illustrated book thinking that if I had to be treated for cancer - and I have been, which is one reason I was drawn to the book - I wouldn't mind doing so in Paris, as if somehow the seductive ambiance of that city would make the illness and its poisonous treatments easier to bear and the clinical aspects all so much more interesting in that location and language. I shortly gave up that idea, as the author's experience (while featuring some of the same medicines and treatments prescribed to me) was altogether much more grueling than my own. That was not due to the French healthcare system, or the location, but because of the type of cancer she had. 

Catherine Pioli's active, idyllic childhood in Greece gave her a belief that she would always be blessed with good health. But after developing a debilitating, painful and puzzling constellation of symptoms at age 32 she had a series of medical consultations that went nowhere definitive. Feeling worse week by week, she endured torturous tests some of which required weeks as a hospital inpatient before the diagnosis of leukemia was made. The treatment for it was even more grueling than the miserable-sounding tests. 

As a young adult establishing herself as a professional illustrator in Paris with regular deadlines to meet, all of this was a huge, very inconvenient, anxiety-causing disruption. A personal life full of love from family, a devoted partner, and friends help her get through it, but we watch her life spiral downward while the beloved people in her life experience happy events in their own lives. Remarkably, she used her talent and skill to document her experience, fears and emotions as they unfolded despite treatment side effects including malnutrition, exhaustion and progressive loss of weight and stamina. The result is a record composed of exquisitely detailed drawings and explanations of the medical necessity of each test and treatment, with the love of others and the aforementioned Paris ambiance woven into her bittersweet tale. 

If you have read Jon Batiste's wife Suleika Jaouad's memoir of her own experience of leukemia, (Between Two Kingdoms) this is a similar story except for the respective authors' personal details. I loved Jaouad's book and found Catherine Pioli's graphic account of the same illness equally captivating and worth my reading time. Both writers tell their stories so compellingly. Pioli's format and comparatively more circumscribed telling make for a quicker reading experience and engage the reader in a completely different but equally unforgettable way. Moreover, it's an informative lesson in some of the ways of cancer - and medicine. 

One doesn't have to have experienced cancer to be drawn into the story of this artist whose life rapidly turned upside down and forced her down a different path than she expected in her thirties. This is an extremely moving and powerful account, the outcome of which you'll have to read the book to learn. 

-Marianne W.       

Change by Edouard Louis

"What I'm writing shouldn't be seen as a story of the birth of a writer but as the birth of freedom, of being uprooted at all costs from a hated past." - Edouard Louis

Though it began with a sordid scene I would have preferred not to witness - which the author returns to later in the book with more context - this autobiographical novel quickly became engaging reading. It is about an extreme makeover - not as much in the physical sense - though there is a little bit of that - as in transforming the author's entire persona through enormous, unrelenting effort as he grows into young adulthood. 

This is not a story of someone maturing by way of the usual developmental milestones of life. Edouard Louis (the character shares the name of the author) spent his early years in an impoverished, intellectually empty, emotionally abusive, alcohol-soaked environment in a rural French village steeped in xenophobia and homophobia, the latter of which was a daily source of cruelty to him. He didn't learn even the most basic table manners, and sometimes had to beg for food for the family and to ask officials at his public school to reduce incidental fees because his parents were too embarrassed to do these things when they couldn't pay for things. The homophobic hostility he experienced from family, schoolmates and strangers, while deeply cutting, was also what propelled him to a better life. He becomes the only person in his family to be educated beyond primary school.

In his early twenties, Edouard found that the more educated he became, the more he realized he didn't know - and yearned to know. He couldn't overcome a sense that he had to continually do more to catch up to what others knew. So he read constantly - all the great writers and all the books recommended by friends - finishing a new book about every other day. 

He is tested by the world again and again, sometimes in ways that leave him feeling humiliated. Those sometimes humbling tests and their accompanying setbacks made him increasingly determined to elevate his life and in doing so, to once and for all sever himself from the hostile, oppressive home town milieu that he often feared would reclaim him and drag him back down. How he finally resolved this dilemma for himself comes at the end of the book.

I found it fascinating to accompany Edouard Louis and witness his phenomenal transformation from poorly educated, uncultured working class boy to Paris sophisticate mingling with royalty at that city's most exclusive dinner parties, and ultimately to globally recognized author whose work has been translated into several languages. He succeeded due to dogged determination to continually educate and refine himself, and he did so in a remarkably short time. All the while his parents rejected him and the direction his life was taking him. 

What resonated most with me and kept me reading was Edouard's forthright manner both in writing his story and in his interactions with everyone he met during his ascendancy. He has a knack for attracting people and forging friendships with sympathetic, caring, accomplished and wealthy people who help mentor him along the way and want him to succeed. There is some sexual exploitation in a few of these relationships but in most of them there is encouragement, generosity and solid friendship. This is undoubtedly due to Edouard's openness about his embarrassing upbringing without any self pity or intent to manipulate others. He's a likeable human being whose transparency in relationships helps propel him forward while he works like hell to achieve a life makeover.       

This is one extreme makeover, and  it was very satisfying to see this man overcome such a dead-end, mean start in life. For this gay writer, it truly did get better. His book tells how he made that happen. 

Reviewed by Marianne W