Admission to the Feast

Annika is 19 & dying of leukemia ... but don't mistake her story for just another simple tearjerker. Perhaps it's the Swedish character & setting of this haunting young adult novel that lifts it far above cheap & easy sentiment. Certainly the writing is superb: spare, honest, bracing as a cold lake beneath an endless twilight sky, with the stark beauty of a pristine black & white film. It's written in the form of a long letter to a friend, as Annika flees to her family's summer cottage to be alone & grapple with her fate. Her life barely begun, she's forced to come to terms with it, with all that she'll never experience, with all that she's lost before she could even begin to grasp it. The immensity of that challenge is presented quietly but powerfully, without melodrama. Slowly she works her way through darkness, finding a dignity & strength that many never achieve in a lengthy lifetime. The enduring image is that of a frail but resolute figure standing firmly against an unfair, uncaring universe, preparing to step forward to meet it. Deeply moving & memorable, it deserves to be brought back into print. Highly recommended!