Mercury Under My Tongue

Frederic is a 16 year old boy who has end-stage bone cancer, and he spends his last days in his "bachelor pad" on the hematology/oncology ward of a hospital in Montreal. He is frequently in pain, and the few friends he has on the wards are too consumed with their own morbidity to provide him with much solace or understanding. Frederick's poetry does provide an escape, and it links him to a beautiful girl there who is battling leukemia. His family visits him infrequently, as he simultaneously seeks their comfort and pushes them away. His aloof manner hides a fear of the death he knows will come soon. He is filled with angst, and his irrational rants followed by brilliant insights into himself and others rings true. His prose flows poetically, although it is frequently searing and acerbic: "I haven't said anything about the most hideous days, the days when the pain rips me open and leave my eyes scalding and glassy, my face decomposed, my bones bare and my forehead greasy and my dirty hair clings to it like seaweed and my damp pajamas stink of sweat. When the nurses come to turn my bed upside down so they can bleach the sheets in which I've sweated blood and lymph, I'm always afraid they'll discover a Turin Shroud that would dehumanize me, like some kind of Easter Sunday, like the resurrection of Christ who spoiled everything by easing the pain of the Passion, by canceling the sacrifice of Good Friday." This was an tough but honest look into the mind of a teenager who realizes that his life will end before it has begun, and is highly recommended.

Mercury Under My Tongue is a short but powerful novel. Frederick is a terminally ill seventeen year old, and the cancer that poisons him, turning his hip into thin, near-transparent sliver of bone, serves as both adversary and muse. Wiser, more worldly and educated than the typical seventeen year old, Frederick still has his moments of pure adolescence - whether that be sneaking glimpses down his therapist's shirt or begging for change to spend on the vending machines. His running monologue rampages against God, but he is drawn to religious people. His poignant not-quite-romance with Marilou is heart wrenching. And his thoughts are often venomous, cursing the world and his place in it. Not for the depressed, this is an engrossing story and a very believable look into the mind of someone who's life is being cut short without reason.

MERCURY UNDER MY TONGUE is not a book for the weak of heart. It is a powerful story told through they eyes of a seventeen-year-old boy dying of bone cancer. Frederick Langlois is in a Canadian hospital. He knows he is dying and is doing what he can to survive. Frederick's family comes to visit, but he has little to say. Instead, he has thoughts inside his head of what he would prefer to say to them. He has gone so far as to write letters to each member of his family. His plan is to have one of the survivors on his floor mail them off on the one-year anniversary of his death. His only solace is the poetry that he writes, but shares with no one except a fifteen-year-old leukemia patient, Marilou. The poetry shows another glimpse into Frederick's thoughts as he faces his final days. Mr. Trudel writes a sad, moving story of a boy wanting more out of life than the hand he was dealt. Frederick shows anger, regret, love, joy, and, against his better judgment, acceptance, as his time draws nearer to the end. He rarely shares his pain of cancer with the reader, but there are snippets of the discomfort that he struggles with on a daily basis. The story is translated from its original French but still flows beautifully and eloquently. If nothing else, Mr. Trudel's work will make you glad you are alive, and want to live the most in each day. Reviewed by: Jaglvr