A Series of Catastrophes and Miracles

Starred review from February 1, 2016
Who would have thought a book about being diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma could be exhilarating and entertaining? Salon.com senior staff writer Williams (Gimme Shelter, 2009) describes going to her dermatologist to check out a scab on her scalp. A biopsy indicated malignant melanoma that required immediate surgery that would leave a permanent bald spot. But it would also begin a lifesaving relationship with Memorial Sloan Kettering doctors. The spoiler at the beginning assures readers that instead of the usual monthslong life expectancy for stage 4 melanoma patients, the author is currently cancer free, even after her disease had progressed to metastases affecting her lungs and a spot on her back. Married and in her 40s with two daughters when she was diagnosed in 2010, Williams experienced all the anxiety, fear, anger, and sadness that come with such a diagnosis, but the writing never sinks to weepiness. The author was buoyed by a strong personality and a supporting cast of family and friends, including one whose ovarian cancer serves as a powerful subtext that cancers often kill. What saved Williams was experimental immunological therapy. She entered a phase 1 clinical trial using a combination of drugs designed to thwart the ability of cancer cells to inhibit the body's immune system from attacking those cells. Usually these trials are conducted to check drug toxicity and dosages. In this case, the drugs helped so many patients that trials for other cancers are now in progress, giving a boost to immunotherapy research in general. The author explains it all: the science, the scans, the constant blood draws, the side effects, the stigma, the guilt of getting sick, the guilt of getting better, the effects on others, including the friends who stop calling you, as well as the support groups she found so helpful. Williams delivers a complex tale about a complex disease, and by sharing a narrative rich in detail, personalities, and New York scenes, she will ease the burdens of those immediately affected and inform others of progress in cancer research.

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Starred review from February 1, 2016

Until a few years ago, a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma was nearly always a death sentence. Researchers have made big advances in a short time, and this memoir shows what those breakthroughs look like from the patient's point of view. Williams, a writer for salon.com, wife, and mother, chronicles her diagnosis, surgery, metastasis, and successful treatment with two new immunologic therapies, one in an early Phase 1 clinical trial. Snarky, funny, frequently off-color, Williams is a gifted writer who turns the greatest crisis of her life into an engaging story that reads almost like a novel. While the author focuses on the personal rather than medical aspects of her experience, the medical and scientific details she includes are accurate and clear. She shows little patience with unscientific sentimentality, dismissing the "courageous battle" narrative often associated with cancer patients. Instead, she writes, "I didn't get better because I prayed correctly or because I'm strong. I got better because the science worked on me." VERDICT This highly recommended account demonstrates the value of cutting-edge cancer research, but it is also beautifully crafted, and many readers will find it entertaining and--though the author might not like this term--inspiring.--Janet Crum, Northern Arizona Univ. Lib., Flagstaff

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Starred review from February 15, 2016
Sadly, cancer memoirs are so common it's hard for one to stand out. But Williams' is special. Her opening page says only, SPOILER: I lived. She goes on to explain how she felt a bump the size of the eraser on a No. 2 pencil on her scalp, visits the doctor, and gets diagnosed with stage-four melanoma. It seems like a death sentence for the Salon.com writer, author of Gimme Shelter: True Tales of the Real Estate Bubble (2009), and mom of two young daughters. But Williams gets into the clinical trial for an immunotherapy drug that, lo and behold, makes her cancer vanish. (Only three percent of eligible adults with cancer participate in clinical trials.) At the end, her doctor thanks her for being courageous. Courageous? she asks him. Or desperate? Today, more patient trials are using her drug combination for lung, breast, renal, colorectal, pancreatic, and ovarian cancer, good news except that it's too late to save a good friend of Williams'. She struggles with guilt, and she feels a horrible sense of the fragility of life. Fortunately, she eloquently and generously shares her story and her emotions in this remarkably illuminating account.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)