“I didn’t want to adopt a performative indefatigability or accomplish heroic feats that would turn me into someone’s idea of a cancer warrior. I vowed to be an underachiever. A cancer slacker.”

So says New York Times bestselling author Annabelle Gurwitch in her latest (and most important) book, THE END OF MY LIFE IS KILLING ME. Having received a Stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis, Gurwitch launched into a new career. She has become a foremost speaker on health care policy. In the wake of a death sentence, she eventually received something of a reprieve thanks to medical pursuits and her remarkably funny outlook.

"Now a single mom dealing with a devastating illness, [Gurwitch] fires on all cylinders and takes on the many cultural sticking points that she finds most aggrieving.... I give an A+ to this joyful and educational book by a first-rate comic memoirist."

Gurwitch has been a comic voice who has helped millions find their way through the muck of such human pursuits as aging, parenting, the gig economy, downward mobility and consumer culture. Now a single mom dealing with a devastating illness, she fires on all cylinders and takes on the many cultural sticking points that she finds most aggrieving --- from the anxiety and vapidity of the “carpe diem” mindset and the scheduled meetings with friends (much of the book occurs during COVID, so she really is looking at how the world is changing, and not for the better, in the face of the pandemic) to retail therapy.

Along with being funny, Gurwitch is educated and interesting. She does not lose her curiosity in the face of hardship but rather doubles down and hitches her wagon not to influencers and their nail spa extravaganzas but to Greek “It” girls like Daphne and Persephone. “I’d seen something of myself in Daphne’s plight. The desire to harden as a means to survival felt familiar. The anguish of metamorphosis --- hers and mine --- seemed to unite us.”

Gurwitch’s other intellectual pursuits take her to the podiums of many a health conference --- facing the difficulties of the medical system when it comes to health inequities. She writes and speaks about predatory insurance practices and is now an advocate, serving as the lead plaintiff in a class-action suit on behalf of millions of patients. She was recognized in 2023 with the Patient Advocate Education Award by the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer and hosts a podcast for the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. This woman knows how to utilize her platform! (Her mentor in her advocacy and writing is the one and only Barbara Ehrenreich, so clearly she has learned a lot.)

With a one-pill-a-day regimen that someday will turn off and stop working, Gurwitch waits for new programs and allows her case to be studied for the good of all in her position. However, there is likely no other person in this situation who could make you laugh out loud about dealing with such earth-shattering news. Gurwitch takes charge of her life and opens herself up to new experiences, like going on tour with a heavy metal band in France, selling their merch, and getting her friends to combine for the world’s worst ukulele band. It’s a journey that readers won’t mind taking.

I’ve read so many memoirs about famous women being struck with diseases and dealing with them by expanding their life instead of shrinking them (Christina Applegate, Liza Minnelli and the late Eleanor Coppola among them). Although it has made my aging anxiety a bit more acute, I think it helps everyone recognize that you have more control over your life and health than you might think. I give an A+ to this joyful and educational book by a first-rate comic memoirist.