DYING YOUNG

I liked this book because Victor (who has leukemia and who has, against the advice of family, friends and doctors, discontinued chemotherapy) is presented as a complex human being. Victor is unsure of his own feelings about death or even whether he wishes to die. Throughout the book, he alternately romantices, embraces and fears death. Victor is, at once, afraid to die and afraid to live. He is very human. Aware that a bone-marrow transplant would offer hope, he reasons that it would probably not be worth the pain. Victor defies the phrase "brave fight against terminal illness"...for those who are ill really have no choice in the matter and are just trying to make it through each day like the rest of us. An excellent book.

I felt DYING YOUNG THE NOVEL by MARTI LEIMBACH was one of the best books I have read and here's why. I felt that you really got to know HILLARY and VICTOR and thier situation through HILLARY'S narration and why she choose to take care of VICTOR and what circumstances led her to him. Also I found the supporting character's in the story such as GORDON and ESTELLE were'nt too one dimensional as they had been in the movie which was great. This book I feel doesn't sanatize what a terminally ill person goes through and how they might feel when dealing with it how victor deals with his illness I won't give away just read and find out. I felt I could really connect with VICTOR and HILLARYwho seemed like real people. I would recommend DYING YOUNG to anyone who likes to be moved and inspired at the same time that's all I have to say.

The movie stunk, but the novel is thousands of times better and presents the two leads as characters instead of the weak caricatures that appeared in the film. Leimbach's people are unique and interesting and she has a great ear for dialogue.

It is rare to find a book that really speaks about the narrator herself. Hillary (a bummer) has a relationship with an eccentric but highly intelligent Victor. Victor, plagued by leaukemia cannot give Hillary the wholesome love she desires for. To satisfy her needs, she finds solace in Gordon. An all American lover who befriends Victor. Now Hillary has to find balance in between caring for a sick man and giving her fullest to Gordon without having to spill the beans about the love triangle. The movie (if anyone remembers, starring Julia Roberts and Campbell Scott) is a poor substitute for the print version of the story. In the book we can explore the complex character of Hillary and Victor because Leimbach allows little side-thoughts to seep into the plot and is not afraid of making a Hillary sound like a fool at times which is what happens to all of us at certain times. It coyly brings us into the ever self reflecting mind of Hillary, the way she sees the world around her yet at the same time not trying to superimposed her opinions on the readers. Because the patient is her 'lover' afterall, readers sometimes wonder what is the rational behind her caring for Victor. Out of love or of compassion. Victor the sick man is not spared of such suspicions too. But his love for Hillary and his realisation of his predicament gathers him to the conclusion that it is better to let sleeping dogs lie as he goes on trying to battle the illness that plagues and weakens him evryday. Victor knows that he is dying and makes no effort to defy the odds, but he tries to taunt the medical world by trying to outlive their predictions. His pleasure in life is to go aginst the society, something he has no qualms about leaving behind while he consistently irritates Hillary who is a creature of the society and probably will be for the rest of the decade. Hillary as much as she is a part of the society finds new experiences as she hangs out with Victor, because he oftens works against society fom a different angle. He once tried to irritate a store clerk wheen buying some groceries and asking the poor women to do complex mathematical sums. She is seeking for an escape from the so-normal society because she finds herself not really blending in with the rest of the people. Therefore Victor seems like an ultimate invitation she could not refuse. Yet as she joins the world of Victor, she sometimes long to be back on reality side of the world which is why she has an affair with Gordon. On the whole Hillary realises that she is different but not so different and having two completely different kinds of relationships makes her understand more about herself and learns to adapt herself into the mundane world while retaining her shred of uniqueness from the rest of the people.