The Opposite of Everything

by David Kalish

When Brooklyn journalist Daniel Plotnick learns he has cancer, his fortunes fall faster than you can say Ten Plagues of Egypt. His wife can’t cope, his marriage ends in a showdown with police, and his father accidentally pushes him off the George Washington Bridge.

Daniel miraculously survives his terrifying plunge, and comes up with a zany plan to turn his life around: by doing the opposite of everything he did before.

In the darkly comedic tradition of Philip Roth and Lorrie Moore comes a new novel from author David Kalish, who draws us into a hilarious, off-kilter world where cancer tears apart relationships...and builds new ones.

Genres: Humor, Memoir

300 pages, Paperback

First published February 17, 2014

About the author

David Kalish is a fiction writer and playwright whose debut novel, The Opposite of Everything, was published in 2014 by WiDo Publishing. In this quirky romantic comedy, an ailing angst-ridden journalist finds love in a fiery Colombian doctor who helps him to beat his fear of life — before his illness beats him.

The Opposite of Everything, was inspired by his own struggle with cancer and divorce and grew out of his studies at the Bennington College Writing Seminars, where he earned his MFA. His short fiction has been published in Temenos, Knock, Spectrum, and Poydras Review, his non-fiction in the Writer’s Chronicle, and a short film of his, Regular Guy, won honors in film festivals here and abroad. Before Bennington, he was an editor and reporter at The Associated Press, and his articles have appeared in major newspapers. He is currently working on a second novel, entitled Stoner Hero, and a theatre script for a Latin version of A Christmas Carol. He lives in upstate New York with his wife, daughter, a toy poodle, and a canary.

Reviews

[david · Rating 2 out of 5]

And this includes well written and interesting books.

[Vicki Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant, entertaining book!
Touching, brilliantly funny and witty, this book is a must read. From the very beginning, we meet Daniel Plotnick, who is diagnosed with cancer and decides to make some very unexpected and unlikely decisions that change his life forever. Along this journey, his marriage dismantles, father-son relationship gets intense and nearly destroyed, friendships change and are established in surprising ways. Each character is rich, complex and very unique. The dynamics of their relationships and their challenges, lead to a wonderful collage of sarcastic humour, wit and dramatic life experiences. As much as I wanted to read, turn each page to keep reading, I found myself re-reading certain dialogue and scenes to further enjoy the entertainment of them.
I highly recommend this book! An excellent journey from start to finish.

[Joe Boudreault]

The Opposite of Everything

When you read satire, you have to wonder if you are getting away from the reality of the world around you rather than delving into the materials of the main topic. With The Opposite of Everything, the reader is plunged into the awkward and controversial world of Daniel Plotnick, a New York City business reporter who has discovered he has terminal thyroid cancer. In the very first great-hook paragraph, David Kalish makes it plain to us that Plotnick is not going to take this laying down. He decides that his survival will be to do the opposite of everyday things.

Plotnick is a very likable character because he ultimately does what we want to do but don't do: go against the grain. It is appropriate, I think, that Kalish has used satire here. This is a heavy topic in any other format. I immediately found myself on Daniel's side, silently shouting “Yes, Daniel, seize the day, and make it a different day.” Plotnick's different day was dealing with a wife, Judy, who sympathizes with his predicament but can't go through with the struggle. So Daniel does the opposite: he divorces and remarries. It's not an iron-clad solution, but it's a funny one, as Plotnick force-feeds himself a whole array of unorthodox programs.

Some readers have compared this to stories by Philip Roth (a Jewish author of satirical things), and that's probably true. But for the first half of this delightful read, I couldn't help feel like I was immersed in the world of John Yossarian, the beleaguered captain in Joseph Heller's Catch 22 novel. After all, Yossarian and Plotnick share something: a situation in which they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't act.

What keeps the reader going is the forward-moving dialogue (which is fun to encounter) and the poetically descriptive prose. Daniel struggles through “the tumorous haze” of his existence. With a first marriage disintegrating in bitterness around him, he sees a sofa as “a crossword clue: furniture piece stuffed with hypocritical meaning.” In a troublesome male-bonding journey into the N.Y state wilderness with Daniel's father, Kalish describes the roads (through Plotnick's eyes, no doubt) as “the squiggly asphalt aorta into the green heart of the Catskills.” Aorta. Heart. This is the terminology Daniel would be familiar with. Later, Daniel's life has 'gone into free-fall.' “My fast-diving cells,” says Plotnick, “sped up everything else in my life.” Fearing impotency, he goes to a sperm bank. It was “...on the 79th floor of the Empire State Building, back then, the second-tallest erection in NYC.” Trying for a face-saving pregnancy with his second wife, Sonia, it becomes noticeable to her that “the malignant growth in her husband” was competing with “the chemistry (which) was required to seed a benign one in her.” Tumor vs fetus: a battle of the bumps, as Kalish describes it. This is great writing.

Daniel becomes an unlikely hero in our emotions, begging the question of: what would we do in such a circumstance? Kalish has delivered a terrific novel with empathy for a serious cause and enough humor to take the edge off that cause. Negative reviews seem to forget that this is meaningful satire and worthy of it. In a comment in his Acknowledgments, he says “Without rejection, there is no acceptance.” A good summary of the cancer of Daniel Plotnick.

[Missi Martin (Stockwell) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Opposite of Everything by David Kalish is a story where the reader will experience all the emotions …

In The Opposite of Everything main character Daniel Plotnick is a journalist living in New York. In the beginning of the story Daniel and his new wife, Judy, find out that he has cancer. Daniel has surgery to remove the thyroid in his neck and they believe the surgeon when he tells them that will fix him. Unfortunately when they return to the doctors they are informed that he is facing a non-curable cancer. Judy does everything she can think of to help Daniel become the healthiest he has even been and Daniel faces the situation as if it were his last days on earth.

Daniel ends up getting a divorce from Judy and Daniel goes on a weekend trip with his father that ends badly and he decides to do everything the opposite. Daniel is determined to live what is left of his life like that.

Then he meets Sonia online and everything changes …. sort of. Sonia is from Columbia living in New Jersey on a work visa. She is a doctor but left her homeland after her father dies. Right before her father dies he tells her that the family is now her responsiblity so she moves to New Jersey to make more money for her family back home.

Daniel and Sonia fall in love and get married but they have their problems. Fortunately they are honest with each other and are determined to make the relationship work … even when they fight !

Readers will fall in love with Daniel and you can not help but feel for him with everything he is going through. And you will totally like his best friend Steve and Sonia. Lucky for Daniel that he has them in his life and they don’t give up on him like he gave up on himself.

I enjoyed reader The Opposite of Everything and I’m pretty sure you will enjoy it also !!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one book I wish I had more motivation to write a full review for, especially since the main character is a cancer patient and I am married to a cancer researcher. Lyrical and well-written, this is the story of journalist Daniel Plotnick, who receives a cancer diagnosis and resolves to do the opposite of what he normally would. This leads him to unwittingly jump off a bridge, marry a woman he has only recently met, and try to move to Mexico for his career. Though I enjoyed the story, I found his revelation to do the opposite of everything to be somewhat lost within the prose. Daniel also practically disappears during the second half, where much of the focus is on his newly pregnant wife, who is more focused on her pregnancy ailments than her cancer-stricken husband. This was a well-written story, but not terribly thought-provoking, and evoked little emotion from me.

This review can also be found on my blog: https://katpersephone.wordpress.com

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book on so many levels. The fact that the main character has cancer, which is the plot device that drives the entire story, is minor compared to everything else: his relationship with his father, how he handles his divorce and subsequent future relationship, commentary on Jewishness, immigration, infertility, family planning, Brooklyn.....I don't know, I could just go on and on with how much I adored the story, the writing, the characters, and oh, did I mention the dialogue?

Literary, funny, sad, clever, people who you want to meet in real life....this debut novel by David Kalish has got it all. Except a sequel, which I wish he'd write, because I didn't want to say goodbye to Daniel, Sonia, Mr. Plotnick and Mona.

[Jonesy952 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book but obviously it was not memorable because I am not recalling much about it. A woman whose mother never settled down but went to jail for possession of drugs. The woman went to an orphanage, did well, became a lawyer. She feels responsible for her mother ending up in jail so sends her mother money for many years to make up for it. All of sudden a brother shows up and then a little sister just when the mother is on her deathbed. It was okay but took me a long time to read because it just wasn’t holding my attention.

[Moondance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's how it starts.

Daniel Plotnick has been diagnosed with medullary thyroid carcinoma after being told that he had "an easily curable" cancer. This throws his life into a tailspin. His newly wedded wife can't cope with the diagnosis. His family brushes him aside and he begins a strange journey in an attempt to rebuild his life.

The book is loosely based on the author's own experiences. This makes some of the off-kilter situations both funny and sad. Daniel begins doing things that he never would have done prior to his diagnosis.

[Mary E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Or my favorite

Slow moving book. Advertised as being humorous but really was not. Came to a sudden, unrealistic ending. Do not recommend

[Phoghat.com/ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received an advance copy for review, available on Amazon March 14, 2014
Here's the gist: Four months after he gets married, a nice Jewish boy in New York receives a diagnosis of thyroid cancer -- medullary thyroid carcinoma --- but the GOOD kind, the kind that can be cured. Cancer has a good kind? Who knew. Oy vey. His new bride, doing the only thing she can think of to support him, tries to put him on a vegan diet and stocks up on alternative health supplements in a possibly misguided effort to ramp up his immune system. And for which he deeply resents her. This brings to mind that old saying, "Nobody is loved the way they want to be loved."

His shiny new marriage disintegrates, and his self-centered dad who is more interested in his own divorced dating life than in helping his son, takes him to a seedy Catskills Jewish resort for a singles weekend. Dad hits a homerun during the weekend, but our protagonist, deep in his new black goth fashion style, holes up in his room. The two argue over music choices, with dad, natch preferring 'old fart music' and our boy preferring heavy metal. On the way home, stuck in a surreal unmoving traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, they continue to argue over their music preferences, and in a fit of pique, dad tosses his son's heavy metal CD up, up and away, where it improbably lands on a railing of the bridge catwalk. Our boy jumps out of the car to retrieve it. We forgive him this adolescent move (he's thirty something) because he's got incurable cancer, for cripe's sake, where's your compassion? and watch horrified as he climbs over the railing in a precarious position to grab his CD. Dad, seeing the nightmare unfolding, rushes to help his son, inadvertently pushing said son over the edge, in a free fall to the drink below.

Makes ya stop and think, don't it.

The blub says In the darkly comedic tradition of Philip Roth and Lorrie Moore comes a new novel from author David Kalish, who draws us into a hilarious, off-kilter world. Well, I've never liked Philip Roth all that much, not being into self-absorbed ruminations of a self-deprecating nature, pace Woody Allen, and now I was interested in seeing just where an author can go with cancer jokes. The blurb notwithstanding, I found it not at all hilarious. I did not LOL. There were no cancer jokes, just likable people in pain struggling to get their feet under them in a world suddenly turned upside down for them. I found it a beautiful, compelling and wistful examination of our expectations and relationships, especially with family, all wrapped up in a story about a guy with essentially no life expectancy, trying in a quirky off-beat way, to change his remaining lifespan by doing everything the opposite of the way he has always done things. I loved that. I loved that he wasn't trying to miraculously cure his disease by some magical means, but was trying to redo his life. He believes that

sometimes you need to do the opposite of the expected, do the opposite of the opposite, which is actually the same.

Yeah. Sometimes you do.

So does our boy end up in the river? Does his cancer go into remission? Does he get a call from the oncologist saying it was all a mistake? Does he make up with his father? His mother? Does he find true love?

You people keep expecting me to tell you the whole story so you don't have to read it yourselves. Pfffft. Go read it, you'll plotz. Really. You'll love it.

[Margo Dill · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review originally appeared in THE NEWS-GAZETTE (Champaign, IL):

Playwright and journalist David Kalish introduces his first novel, The Opposite of Everything, written while pursuing an MFA from Bennington College. The Opposite of Everything is a humorous novel about a man, Daniel, diagnosed with cancer who winds up getting a divorce and is soon after accidentally pushed off a bridge by his own father. As strange as this sounds, it really is funny.

Kalish’s writing is being compared to the comedy of Seinfeld—if you were a fan of the show, you’ll most likely be a fan of the witty and sometimes quirky dialogue of the characters in Kalish’s novel. Take for example, a conversation between the main character’s best friend, Steve, and his mother. Steve is a telephone line repairman and answers his cell phone while up in the air working on the wires. His mom calls to tell him about Daniel falling off the bridge and being in the hospital. But the conversation is mostly about how she’s worried Steve is going to fall down, and the banter between the two goes on and on, with not much mention about Daniel and his plight.

Once Daniel is diagnosed with cancer at the beginning of the story, his new marriage is completely turned upside down. His wife is always wondering why he can’t understand how she feels and how she is hurting. At times, this made me want to reach into the book and shake her, but we have to get rid of her and her self-centered attitude through divorce in order for the story to move on. The end of the marriage doesn’t take long and involves the police. Then Daniel goes on a guys’ weekend with his dad to a senior citizens dating paradise, which ends with the bridge incident.

By this time, Daniel starts to test his theory that doing the opposite of everything he has ever done before is the only way to face his life when faced with death. He also dresses in black, gets a few odd body piercings and listens to heavy metal music. His friend Steve attempts to help him date once he recovers from the bridge drama. But it’s not until Daniel takes matters into his own hands and finds a bright, young female doctor on an Internet dating site that life starts to take an upward swing.

In an interview Kalish gave to the WOW! Women On Writing e-zine, he stated, “In just four months in 1994, I was diagnosed with incurable thyroid cancer at the same time my first marriage fell apart. I later got remarried to a doctor, and underwent chemotherapy.” He says this first novel is loosely based on his own life during that time; but when he tried to write the story as a memoir, it wasn’t working.

He decided to fictionalize his plight, add humor and write it in the third-person. “My book is still a story about one man’s struggle, his search for renewal,” he said. “But I’ve handed it over to actors who are free to do all sorts of crazy things. It’s liberating.”

[Laura Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an elementary school teacher, the title of this book is what first caught my eye. Anyone who has spent any time with kids has experienced the giggling proclamation “Its Opposite Day! Yes means No!” David Kalish takes this idea to a new extreme by giving us the life of Daniel Plotnick.

Plotnick is your average newly wed 30-something with a steady job, rent, bills and a fairly mediocre life. One day a literal lump in his throat sends him to the doctor where he is diagnosed with cancer. Don’t worry; it’s the good kind, well, until it’s not. As he copes with his diagnosis, his wife begins trying all kinds of dietary cleanses on him to fight the cancer. When he finds her sneaking Hagen Daz in the kitchen, he realizes some things need to change. Later, reflecting on his scans, he decides that the world is full of positive and negative, matter and anti matter. Since the matter hasn’t been kind, he decides to embrace anti – matter. He decides to do the opposite of everything he’s ever done.

Cue the funny parts. Like Job, Plotnick can’t seem to get a break. His divorce involves a call to the police. His dad’s “help” to get him back to the singles scene involves senior citizens, “old fart” music and ends in a dive off the George Washington Bridge (where Plotnick is luckily saved by his new nose ring getting stuck in a net). His telephone lineman by day/bartender by night friend sets him up on a series of forgettable dates that occur on three consecutive Fridays at the same Chinese restaurant. Kalish describes the meetings as “test-driving Fords across the worn and weathered rim of the Great Wall of China.”

Eventually his luck turns around when he meets a woman through the internet. A tough Columbian woman studying to be a doctor, she is able to help Daniel curb some of his crazier ideas through a combination of intelligence and obstinacy. Their relationship reads like series of Seinfeld as they negotiate another bad cancer diagnosis, Plotnick’s relationship with his father, a Jewish-Catholic wedding performed by Buddhist monks, attempting to have a baby, and more.

I have barely touched on the craziness that is Daniel Plotnick’s life. You truly have to read the book . While I never actually laughed out loud, the book was funny, engaging and kept me reading “just one more page” At the end I was caught up pondering some rather poignant questions about happiness and why it takes facing death sometimes to make us truly live our life. Definitely not what you’d expect from a book that is almost in the romantic comedy genre. It is a quick easy and very enjoyable read. A requirement for your summer reading list.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting twist to how a recently married young man deals with being told he has cancer....the good kind of thyroid cancer...as if any cancer is the good kind. Unfortunately doctors were wrong and it was the incurable type. Everyone deals with bad news in their own way and I must say it took me a while to adjust my thinking to grasp this unique way of handling the news. His creative theory for dealing with it was to do the exact opposite of everything he would have done pre diagnosis. At first, I wanted to dislike him for leaving his newly married wife of 4 months, alone to deal with the confusion and uncertainties of why he would leave her at such a crucial time in his life. As the book progressed I could begin to understand this somewhat "warped way of thinking and acting" (IMO) but it did give me a better grasp on why he made some of the decisions he did.
It was definitely a book that kept you guessing as to what would happen next as well as keeping your emotions on a roller coaster. At times, you will be laughing at the absurdity of what he was doing and then just as suddenly crying for how lonely and scared he must have felt.
In reality, it left me with a somewhat mixed feeling, both emotionally for the characters an also still a bit taken aback by the way he processed dealing with such a serious disease. Understandably, every one deals with tragic news in different ways; anger, grief, pulling back from loved ones, drawing nearer to God and loved ones, humor, avoidance, etc but this was an approach that I never saw coming.
As a story to read, It was okay but if this was the way my dad had handled his news about cancer, I and entire family would have been devastated ,and felt like we were leaving him alone and deserted in his time of greatest need while simultaneously feeling like he left us alone to deal alone with the diagnosis of a loved one and the feeling of helplessness of not being there to provide love and comfort at the final moments of his life. And it's because of my personal feelings of ambiguity that I couldn't give this book more than 3 stars. If I could have removed my emotions and judged book solely on its effectiveness it would have garnered 4 stars but the whole concept of reading in my opinion is to capture creativity and emotion at the same time and have them work together. In my mind, these 2 concepts seemed to "do just the opposite" of that...which based on title, may have been the authors actual intent while writing. If that was the case, then hit it on the Mark, just not mark. Still overall I was glad to have read it as it was definitely a different kind of read on a serious topic.

[Crystal Otto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Review – The Opposite of Everything by David Kalish
Review by Crystal J. Casavant-Otto

I remember my topsy-turvy life after my husband broke the news he didn’t love me anymore. I couldn’t remember exactly when things started going wrong and I was plagued with questions and an overwhelming sense of confusion and frustration. I started retracing my steps in hope of finding myself again. I felt like a fragile figurine from the gift shop and I kept thinking “why didn’t you just leave me where you found me since you didn’t want me anyway?” I took myself back to a time and place of safety…I went back to the friends I had ten years prior in hopes of doing it all again and getting it right.

Until I read The Opposite of Everything by David Kalish I didn’t realize there were others out there just like me. I was immediately drawn to The Opposite of Everything and felt kindred with main character Brooklyn Journalist, Daniel Plotnik and his humorous approach to a difficult situation.

Of course, I don’t claim a divorce is as traumatic or life-altering as a health crisis, and yet an emotional crisis certainly feels just as real. I love the laughter in the face of tragedy approach Kalish’s character takes to aid in his resurrection after disease, divorce, and a tumultuous relationship with his father. The thought of new beginnings, choosing a different path, and a better ending appeals to many of us, and Kalish does a fabulous job of making this journey entertaining and downright hysterical!

Believe it or not, Plotnick’s own father pushes him off the George Washington Bridge and instead of sulking, Plotnick devises a plan to turn life around by doing the opposite of everything he had done before. This first novel by David Kalish is humorous, real, and a story you’ll want to share with friends.

The Opposite of Everything was named a finalist in the Somerset Fiction Awards and will quickly climb the best seller lists. Get your copy today and enjoy every twist, turn, and laugh! Congratulations to Kalish on a fabulous book – definitely 5 stars from this reader whose only regret is not meeting character Daniel Plotnik in the real world – he is a character I’d love to have coffee with!

[Shannon Miz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally posted here.

I think it is a book that many people would enjoy, women and men alike, and people of all ages. The main character, Daniel Plotnick, goes through struggles that many of us can relate to: relationship problems, trouble with parents, bad fortune in general.

I found the trials that Daniel went through to be incredibly real, which is probably what makes the book so likable. As a reader, the book makes you think about how you would handle some of the adversity Daniel faces. What would you do if you marriage fell apart, you were diagnosed with cancer, your father was a nightmare? Could you act in the opposite way of every instinct, everything you thought you knew?

The characters were witty and likable, and even the most flawed characters were able to elicit positive feelings. The story itself moved at a good pace, I wasn't bored or skimming through pages. I was genuinely interested in what the outcome would be for all the characters. While I did not find the humor to be of the laugh-out-loud, clutching your stomach variety, I did find myself smiling frequently. I prefered the humor to be understated in this case, so it worked for me.

My only real issue with the book was that I would have liked to have a bit more insight on Daniel as a person, pre-cancer, pre-marriage. I didn't really completely know his motivation sometimes, and found him actually less likable than a lot of the supporting characters. I would have liked to know a bit more about his feelings, and what made him tick.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book. It made me think, it made me smile, it made me cheer for the characters, and I am definitely glad to have had the chance to read it!

3.5 Stars

[Heather Doughty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, an interesting idea for a story that is funny and relevant for many readers. The book is about a man who is diagnosed with cancer which seems like a heavy topic, and while it is, the story doesn't focus on the cancer. The focus is on the man's reaction to the diagnosis and his efforts to take control of his life. How can this be funny? I don't want to give that away - but it is the opposite of what you expect.

The book started out strong. I was hooked and engaged by Chapter 2. Then it sort of breaks form as the main voice switches to the father. I didn't like this at all. I guess I just didn't like the father or his perspective and was more interested in the main character. Plus, there are only a few chapters told from a different character's perspective, so am not sure why the author chose to do this.

Another thing that was distracting was the inconsistent time line. There were huge gaps in time that went unexplained, and then focus on specific moments. Because the timeline was haphazardly addressed, I felt a little lost as to where we were in the character's life.

In the end, I was not sure what this book was about. Is it a story about cancer? About living life to its fullest? Or is it a metaphor for being brave enough to take chances? It could be the author's intention to leave the message open ended to create connectivity to the story. However, I have not yet been touched by cancer, so I was confused about what I should take with me from the story.

The four stars is for the writing, the character development, the humor, and the length of the book. It's a quick read and well worth it.

[Jada Ryker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't Cross the Streams

It's 1996 and Daniel Plotnick has a good life. He's only been married for four months. He likes his job.

He's told he has thyroid cancer. Daniel's doctor happily informs him there's a 90% success rate.

Unfortunately, the 10% bites Daniel in the butt…or neck.

Daniel doesn't think it can get any worse. He's horrified when his wife turns her childhood and early adult mistakes into an act of cosmic karma. She believes her hurtful actions led to Daniel's death sentence.

"It was bottom of the ninth, two strikes, two outs. Gripping the bat handle, she stared hard at the pitcher motionless on the mound, a pitcher who threatened to strike them out. Turn their lives into a cosmic joke. A joke that began, like so many, in a smoky bar. A woman gazes into a stranger’s eyes, lets him buy her a drink. Existential philosophies and phone numbers are exchanged. After several adventures, she hitches a ride on his star. But the star goes nova."

As he drearily looks at his medical scans, Daniel has an epiphany. The scans are reverse images. Why not apply it to his life? Instead of a childhood Opposite Day at school, Daniel decides to use it every single day.

David Kalish guides the reader through various rites of passage with a humorous and sensitive hand. The Opposite of Everything is a how-to book for taking crap and turning it into gold.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plotnick's Complaint, you might say.

Yet another author from my hometown makes good and gets a novel out. This one begins with several chapters of serious depressing news: before page 100, Plotnick (Daniel by name but rarely by reference) gets a nasty cancer diagnosis and reacts to his newlywed bride's reaction to said diagnosis by deciding to divorce her. How he survives those bumps and bruises is what makes this a story of redemption rather than depression.

I almost turned back more than once- Plotnick has serious issues with his own father (*DING!) and with his own future- but in the end he is saved by a combination of friendship and random new love interest.

Some may recall my white-bread Methodist nitpicks over Kalish's Yiddish translations- "minion" rather than "minyan" drove me nuts until someone far more Jewish than I talked me off my jump off the Wailing Wall- but that's about all I have to complain about. Well, that and Plotnick's father's taste in music, but that definitely added to the plot.

[Deborah Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exquisitely written book about the choices we might make in the face of a life altering illness like cancer. David Kalish found a way through it by using humor. What would it be like to do the opposite of everything you had done before. Would it change anything, or simply give us to do besides worry about things we can't control? I loved this book! The characters are well developed and the story flows smoothly from beginning to end. I would love to do the opposite of some things in my life, wouldn't you? This is a great read for the sick and the healthy to read. Humor is always good for the soul. I love how he took a difficult subject and made it into a truly amazing and unique book! This is a definite must read for anyone! I would love to give this book a million stars, that's how good it is! Well done, David, well done!

[Joy D. Fanning · Rating 4 out of 5]

* I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion*

This book was quirky yet easy to relate too. I feel it would be most enjoyed by adults since it deals with marriage, cancer and work- things that happen more in adult life. I like how it went through Daniel's divorce and illness.

This books follows Daniel's journey from coping with his situation and viewing life in a whole new way. I found myself cheering for him and glad he was making changes, though at some points he takes it a little to far.

This book is funny, thought provoking and totally worth the read. Kalish writes in such a way that the book is polished, well written and witty. The dialog is great, the characters are well developed and the story has a great flow to it.

[Maddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

All in all not terrible, but sounds like something from a high school english class, not a gripping novel. This book was an easy read in that it flowed well. But difficult in that the main character wasn't particularly likeable. In fact in the middle of the book the author goes out of his way to illustrate his whiny self centered attitude. Additionally the book couldn't decide what time it takes place in. They go on dates to see Terminator 2 and Free Willy, but meet through online dating sites and find medical information on wikipedia. It isn't until the late middle of the book that the author drops vague hints that this isn't taking place in the present. He also skips or changes major plot points, like the circumstances of her father's death, or why he feels he must propose.

[Bob Pierce · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite read. The premise of the book is established when the unlikeable main character, who mishandles virtually every aspect of his life, decides to change his "unlucky" outcomes by doing the exact opposite of what he had done in the past. Of course, the reader realizes early on that changing actions for the sake of change does not alter one's character or the consequences of that character. Superficially, the character experiences better results from his change of actions, but in reality he is still a jerk at the end . . .

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

I could not get into this book. The symbolism was dry, bland, and beaten over the head. The characters, to me, were one dimensional and story progression made little sense. I was expecting great things by the synopsis but Daniel was not a good guy. I had a hard time feeling bad for him and he was dying through the whole book. I also have father issues and it just made me feel uncomfortable. I finished the book just to finish. I hope others will connect better to the story.

[Maddie Dreimiller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. It was different than I expected. It really showed the struggle of someone trying to figure out how to live his life when he was presented with devastating news. In some parts I was annoyed by his personality and decisions, but I think it was a good look into how someone struggles. The opposite of everything is an interesting concept, and I think it takes a brave person to throw away everything they have known to live that way.

[Megen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book! The author uses those type of bizarre and novel imagery in his writing that I love to read. The characters are all real. The book addresses huge themes addressing the human condition and somehow pulls off the dark humor involved.

[Kim Territo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on someone with cancer.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting because I have the same type of thyroid cancer - Medullary Thyroid Cancer but it wasn't really the sort of book that I love.

[Zoe Jussel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read.

[dianna k johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

I found it odd, but well written. Kept me involved and interested. Was an enjoyable story. Easy to read .