Laurel Lee and her books
My review: 
(5 stars)
Today I randomly went to Amazon to check the reviews for one of my all-time favorite book series, the journals of Laurel Lee. I was surprised that the first book, at least, had not a single review or rating. So I wrote the following review. In the process of checking around, I learned that Laurel died last year. I’m sorry I never got to meet her, though we did exchange letters a few times.
Briefly, the first book, Walking through the Fire, is a hospital journal written when Laurel was 29, pregnant, and found out she had Hodgkins disease. She was advised to abort the baby so she could start chemotherapy, but she did not want to.
Laurel Lee’s books have a special place in my heart. Few books have a style that sets them apart from, and makes them hard to compare with, all others. Her writing on the surface reads as easily as a children’s book (she also wrote for children). But in that simplicity there is great transparency and insight. The books are mostly prose, but laced with sparkling word images and drawings that speak directly to the heart and are truly a (very accessible) form of poetry. Just a couple of examples:
“In one stroke, I cut with some mental shears that fifty-more-years river, leaving me a short stretch …. I want the privilege of guiding the arrows of my children and giving them the exhortations that can shoot them into the high place.”
“I was stunned. I knew I must be in Stage III. I could count my thoughts and emotions, as if my head had broken into a lot of little pieces and they were falling slow enough to number. I was mad at every encouraging word and that I had believed them.
“We all stood two inches tall; I was set up for a fall. It was winter, and they took my only coat.”
Laurel’s books are special to me mainly because of they way they exude joy and life without being in the least syrupy or naive (indeed there is plenty of doubt, discouragement, and pain expressed as well, as in the quote above).
Though valuable for anyone, Walking through the Fire was written as a gift for the doctors who were caring for Laurel during her first illness. It offers them a candid and often humorous view from the patient’s perspective. Her inside view has shaped my own practice as a pediatrician and I believe that every health care worker should consider her books required reading. And besides … they’re fun!
Unfortunately, these journals are out of print. The new book Tapestry, though, appears to contain much if not all of the same material and more. I’m going to read it as soon as I can get it out here to Nigeria. It’s available directly from the publisher or on Amazon.