Customer Reviews

Letters from the Land of Cancer

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In this powerful collection of letters and meditations, award winning author Wangerin writes with raw honesty and challenges all of us to think about our own mortality, and possibly rethink our view of cancer.

He starts by calling his 2 year long bout with lung cancer a "dance" and later on, an "adventure." He refuses to call it a "battle."

The reader finds out about half way through the book that although Wangerin can't bring himself to pray for his own healing, he is certain .."healing is surely to come; either healing of his body or his own weary spirit."

The book is really all about facing our own mortality, which Wangerin says .."brings out the child in us,the heart filled with childlike longings and an infant's perfect trust."

All of the letters, written mostly to family members and friends, are beautifully put together with the grace and eloquence associated with Wangerin. #9 and #19 are two of the best. In maybe the most poignant of all the letters, you get a sense of Phil 1:23 as the author writes to a former student: .."I don't pray for death. But I wouldn't mind an early visitation. There is just so much about this world and its leaders which is so disappointing it crushes my heart.."

The beauty of the book is perhaps summed up best by the last sentence of letter #15: .."It is a good day. Gladness is available. Christ is at hand."

This is a must read for all, for we all have to face what Wangerin so honestly, beautifully and courageously faces head on... our own mortality.

I'm not a religious sort, and I'm generally not a fan of poetry, so whether on the spiritual or literary planes, any Biblical verses Mr. Wangerin cited were pretty lost on me. However, they could be precisely what another reader might like best.

I found that I skipped the meditations and focused on the letters. The letter on pain ("I contain pain.") is the most memorable. Other standouts: how some of his human frailties (i.e., flashes of anger) emerged at different times; his description of trying to get air; his sense of Time and paying attention; and his close examination of his grandchildren's hands.

The ending disconcerted me; its abruptness contrasted sharply with the careful thoughtfulness of all that preceded it.

For such a small book, it is meaty, and I recommend it.

On December 26, 2005, with his adult children and grandchildren still gathered in for the holiday, Walter Wangerin Jr. discovered a lump in his neck that proved to be a malignant tumor, metastasized from his lung.

Three weeks later, he wrote the first of 22 letters --- updating friends on his prognoses and treatments, his physical and spiritual health, and his reflections on life in the shadow of death --- most of them sent out over 18 months. (A few are marked as being "never sent.") These are missives a younger writer might have posted on a blog site. I infer that he wrote them on a typewriter, engaging an assistant to format them for an email outbox. Halfway through the collection, he mentions the possibility of publication. (In the second half, his writing seems a little less intimate, as if he's consciously aware of his potential readership.) Indeed, the letters are presented here for a wider audience, interspersed with short meditations --- six by his own hand, a seventh by poet Robert Siegel.

In the prologue he explains, "I'll tell my story step-by-step from within the ongoing experience. I needn't draw from memory." Especially in the first half, that immediacy is evident. What will the doctor say tomorrow? How will he respond to this pain --- or this pain killer? "I contain pain," he writes. And "I am sincerely grateful that my adventure waited until there were therapies and drugs to serve this sort of thing [pain]" --- though it seems much of the pain is caused by curative therapies. How does this disease change his relationship with his wife, his grandchildren, and his garden? The book works because Wangerin is such a good writer. He draws us into his private life, not as voyeurs but as fellow travelers.

Some of Wangerin's more interesting comments have to do with the language we use about cancer: we battle against it. "Cancer really isn't an issue of defeat or victory. We are all going to die." He goes on to talk of blessings received as a result of his cancer. "Surely it's high Time --- isn't it? --- that we pay as much attention to the blessings of a long affliction as we do to the pain for which we curse it." He also interestingly works with words, turning slowth --- some combination of slow and growth --- into a noun that describes benefits of facing daily life at a reduced pace, not by choice but by forced circumstance.

Would I recommend this to a person of faith who has metastasized cancer? Yes, if that person has a solid familial network, for that is where Wangerin gains much of his focus and strength. The book ends with a two-line postscript, in which Wangerin states that his health was "stable" in April 2008. That's nearly 20 months before publication in early 2010. Though strangers to him, readers invited into his life would have welcomed a well-deserved, press-time update.

--- Reviewed by Evelyn Bence

This book is not just for cancer patients. It can apply to anyone suffering an illness, whether terminal or not.
The author shares his pain, his sorrow, and his faith in God for his condition. The book opened my mind up to the possibly of death and how we can face it, knowing that God is in control and with the right attitude, we can and will survive and overcome the fear of death. Heaven is our final journey and with that will come complete healing and joy.

This is a painfully beautiful book. Walter Wangerin Jr. is a children's author. However, he's also a Bible scholar and a university professor of writing. This particular book exposes his personal thoughts and experiences in a memoir. The title should give it away, Letters from the Land of Cancer.

Letters is a collection of actual letters Wangarin wrote to family and friends after he was diagnosed with cancer and while he endured treatments. They are honest and revealing, but poetic and beautiful. Sad, but triumphant.

The letters intertwine his expertise as a Bible scholar, his resolute faith in Christ, his stark transparency as a patient and his exquisite use of language.

If you enjoy peering into people's souls you'll love this book. If you long to empathize with someone you know personally who suffers from cancer or any other life-threatening illness, you'll cherish this book. If you enjoy poetic language for its own beauty, Letters will nourish your soul.

Walter Wangerin's "LETTERS" contain his deeply personal thoughts and experiences through two years of cancer treatment. As a renowned contemporary American Christian writer, Wangerin does not spare us his true feelings of fear and despair during his painful journey. This is no religious, sugarcoated devotional pill. Wangerin writes very honestly and descriptively as one would write a personal letter to a close friend, yet with mature insight of a pastor and highly accomplished top-tier Christian thinker and writer. I was impressed at how plain and direct he is here. He relates his human struggle, as well as his long periods fighting with God. I found him encouraging, real, candid, and spiritually vital.