Lara Avery

As the story opens, Sammie, a senior in high school, has begun penning a journal for the benefit of her future self, though her dreams of winning at Nationals for debate and heading to college in New York are not as rosy and hopeful as they were a just few short months ago. She has been diagnosed with Niemann-Pick, a progressive disease which will eventually affect not only her mobility but her mental processes, including memory.

I was wowed by this book, which came to my attention for having won the Minnesota Book Award. As a reader I assumed at first that NPC was invented for the story, but later discovered it is tragically real. There is lots of food for thought, and it's impossible not to imagine what would it be like to be in Sammie’s shoes/circumstances, knowing you are becoming less and less yourself each day. The characters' behaviors during conflict surpassed my expectations — i.e., they spoke honestly with each other and nobody was villainous. I was rooting for everyone! The narrative is funny, heartwarming without crossing into saccharine, wholesome and inevitably, necessarily sad. Highly recommended.… (mehr)