Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

Product Information

Ouweneel, W.J.; Boot, J. (2017). The World is Christ's: A Critique of Two Kingdoms Theology. Ezra Press. ISBN 978-0-9947279-6-1.

Between Two Kingdoms, by Suleika Jaouad book review - The Between Two Kingdoms, by Suleika Jaouad book review - The

This story is a total walk through from before her diagnosis to her remission and everything that came in between. The long hospital stays, the additional bouts with other surgeries, and the failure of her immune system. It chronicles the people she meets along the way, both those with and without various cancers. She relates her feelings, both with her caregivers and her family and how they end up growing out of balance. The men she loves and those who love her. A work of breathtaking creativity and heart-stopping humanity.' ELIZABETH GILBERT, author of Eat Pray Love Anyways, if you’re here looking for an ***actual review*** of the book and not my weirdly personal confessions, here it is:Before Jaouad began her first aggressive round of chemo, and not finding much written about a young person’s experience with cancer, she decided to start a blog. When it unexpectedly went viral, she was able to turn the exposure into a series of columns for The New York Times ( Life, Interrupted), and in the years that followed — as she and Will set up home together in her mother’s apartment in the Village — Jaouad was able to help support them with further writing and speaking gigs (she incidentally notes that she won an Emmy for the video series that accompanied her columns; this really isn’t an ordinary life). For a debut book, this one is really good. Jaouad is very open and candid in her heartfelt story. Suleika Jaouad has her knees taken out from under her in the prime of her youth. She is diagnosed with leukemia. The second half has a recovering Suleika making a 100-day trip around the U.S. to visit fellow sufferers, some old acquaintances, but most new. She was really brave (or naive) to do this with no one else but her adorable rescue mutt.

About — Suleika Jaouad

When the grief within is raw, it’s hard to open up to the possibility of a new life, new love, because it requires us to open ourselves to the possibility of new loss. Living with that openness means feeling pain, but the alternative is feeling nothing at all. And the truth is you can’t protect yourself from loss, be it a breakup, a betrayal, or something as big and blinding as death. Trying to evade heartbreak is how we miss out on our people, our purpose—and I can’t think of a better response to life’s hardships than love. 5. Our health isn’t binary. A propulsive, soulful story of mourning and gratitude - and an intimate portrait of one woman's sojourn in the wilderness between life and death.' Right after graduating from college, Suleika Jaouad was ready to take on the world. She had moved to Paris and to purse her dream of becoming a war correspondence. Life would set her up for a different kind of battle. She began to itch. Not the little itch that we all experience from time to time but a drawn out annoying one that had her waking each day to find scratch marks on her body. It was persistent and did not go away. Then fatigue set in. After many doctor appointments, and right before her twenty third birthday, she was diagnosed with Leukemia with a 35 percent chance of survival. Am I living in the power and victory of Jesus, more than a conqueror through him (Romans 8:37), or am I living in my own weakness and failure under the illusion that I am strong?The chart compares the dominions ofChrist and Satan under each of the seven criteria. It makes a very interesting and enlightening study. Why not open your Bible and read the passages given? 2 Questions you must ask yourself... My family and I don’t talk about the time we spent in the hospital. It was deeply traumatic for them in ways that I will (hopefully) never understand, and I respect that. A consequence of this, however, is that I knew nothing about what I had until decided to write about it for my college application essay. I didn’t even know the name of the disease until I was 17. What I was left with was a swirl of memories and feelings that were processed in my 7-year-old brain and were left essentially untouched. That is, until I read this. For all of her self-reflection, the author seems to have a lot of blind spots, particularly around her privilege. She makes a passive comment about only being able to afford Princeton through scholarships but then describes multiple study abroad trips and unpaid/low-paying internships that require financial privilege. She barely reflects on the privilege of having health insurance or being able to get appointments at some of the best hospitals in NYC for her treatment. Money seems like a complete afterthought, and the financials of her life (particularly after her cancer) are mysterious. No more doomscrolling. Read this book instead... Full of wisdom and resilience.' ADAM GRANT, author of Originals Jaouad’s narrative voice hits all the right notes to keep you reading. In fact, the resonance of her words is such that I promise there is something to ensnare every reader, regardless of who you are.

Between Two Kingdoms - Penguin Books UK

Suleika endures a treatment that is not guaranteed to cure her and she is forced to face her own mortality. While coming to grips with all of this she is grieving for her fellow patients who succumb to their cancers. Obviously, we know she survives and even thought her career goals changed, she continues to write and wrote an Emmy award winning column titled "Life Interrupted." Her wok has been featured in magazines and she has created Isolation Journals. She may not be a war correspondent, but she has made an impact in journalism. The book reminds us of the importance of being surrounded by a caring community. Not just her family, but a relatively new boyfriend. How many people would have put their life so totally on hold like Will for even a week let alone much longer? It’s also a reminder of how utterly draining dealing with cancer can be, for all concerned.Suleika Jaouad is diagnosed with a rare from of leukaemia in her early twenties. Her world soon revolves around appointments, treatments and hospital wards.. Her social life is with her treating team and co-patients as well as her boyfriend Will who finds himself in a carer role and her parents who are beside themselves with worry. Beautifully crafted . . . affecting . . . a transformative read . . . Jaouad’s insights about the self, connectedness, uncertainty and time speak to all of us.”— The Washington Post