Between Two Kingdoms

Suleika Jaouad’s memoir, the most recent travel memoir I’ve read, is about a woman traveling the world alone, though Suleika traveled with her dog, Oscar.

She set off on in a van a 15,000-mile road trip across the country to meet some of the people who had written letters to her during her years in the hospital in treatment for leukemia and a bone marrow transplant.

Like me, Suleika had a dream of being a writer, in her case a war correspondent. The journey she set out on was also one of healing that began with the question: How would… show more.

Between Two Kingdoms describes the author’s personal journey through leukemia in her early twenties and a hundred-day road trip to survive her own survival.

From the harrowing landscapes of hospital interiors to the Grand Canyon and the Rio Grande to the depths of the human heart. Jaouad introduces us to the forest of people she meets (loves, collides with, loses) on her epic and ephemeral path, bringing us into the powerful and fragile network of relationships she lives within.

I loved this book because, for me, it cut straight to the core of the mystery of being alive and because… show more.

I felt a surge of emotions when I read this moving and beautiful book by Suleika Jaouad. I related so deeply to her experience of getting knocked down by a sudden and dire diagnosis after her college graduation.

Underlining plenty of passages, I wrote “Totally get this!” in many a margin. But it was the beauty of her writing, the honesty of her account, and the strength of her spirit that made this book sing. Between Two Kingdoms reinforced my belief that no matter what we endure, joy is always available if we savor the gift of life. 

I’d heard about this book many times before I finally got my hands on a copy. It’s a richly told story of battling cancer and grief, but in this case, the author is the patient herself in her early- and mid-twenties.

This beautiful book provided me a much-needed lens into an otherwise unimaginable experience of coming of age as a patient in hospital room after hospital room, fighting leukemia, and losing newly made friends to cancer, all while also sorting out romance and friendship in the most relatable ways.

I read it in a matter of days, and so many… show more.

Suleika Jaouad’s heartbreaking memoir chronicles her battle with cancer as a young adult, right out of college, followed by her challenge to put her life back together after she achieves remission.

She is a talented storyteller, and she’s not afraid to share intimate details of her very tough journey back to health. I admire her courage. And I appreciated that her story doesn’t end when the cancer goes away. It continues as she travels across the U.S. in search of a path forward and to connect with the people who supported her during her illness.

This book touched me in a way I did not expect.

The story follows a young woman who gets leukemia and the lessons she learns. One character in the book talks about healing in a way that I never heard before – healing does not mean you are back to where you were before, but that you can live with the trauma and move forward. This comment resonated with me and my own trauma of raising myself, not knowing my dad, and getting sexually abused.

I am not like before, but I am able to move forward.  

At age 22, Suleika’s life was turned upside-down by a leukemia diagnosis. She’s thrown into a strange new world, fighting a disease that destroyed many aspects of her life, not just her health.

Once recovered, Suleika struggled to regain a sense of normalcy and set out on a cross-country trip. After being dependent on people, she learned to be on her own. After constant fear, she challenged herself to be fearless. And after years of being simply a cancer patient, she set out to discover herself again. I’ve found this is the beauty of travel. It’s not only about what… show more.

This is a twenty-something woman's account of her pre-cancer life, her cancer treatment, and its aftermath. I loved it because it gave me a young person’s view of cancer. Educated at Juilliard and Princeton, she is diagnosed with leukemia while starting a career in Paris. Her narrative of treatment (with a one in three chance of success), her relationships with family, friends, and lovers, her encounters with medical and support staff, and fellow patients are clear-eyed. She presents a view of the cancer universe – before, after, and during – and worries about sex and infertility from the viewpoint of… show more.