The Cancer Letters

by Eric Plummer

The Cancer Letters is one mother’s unconventional, yet humorous attempt at parenting while suffering through chemotherapy treatments she’s hoping will save her life.Through a series of letters, she imparts her unique form of parental wisdom onto her teenage son hoping she can absently help him grow into an honest, responsible young man.

She knows he’s going to fight. She knows he’s going to drink. She knows he’s going to get his heart broken. She knows he’s going to get in trouble...

Will the son take her advice on the trials and tribulations of life and learn that sometimes parents are right whether he likes to admit it or not? Or will he ignore it like a typical teenage boy trying to come to life under his own terms?

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 2, 2015

About the author

Eric Plummer lives in Des Moines, IA where he was born and raised. He always writes with a bottle of wine nearby and edits the following morning where he often discovers his words to be considerably less funny than they were the previous evening. Therefore he is a staunch believer in rewrites and multiple drafts. He blows off steam by downhill skiing in the winter and hitting horrendously afwful golf shots during the summer. When he's not busy writing, entertaining one of his various other hobbies, or futily attempting to stay on his girlfriend's good side, he gets tremendous joy out of tormenting his younger siblings by over-spoiling his nieces and nephew.

Reviews

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a moving story about a son moving through his life after his mother's passing. But he doesn't have to do it alone, because she left behind letters for him to open whenever he needs motherly guidance.

Although it sounds like this has the likelihood of being a very depressing book, it has humor sprinkled throughout in the different scenarios the son finds himself; and in the letters the mom leaves behind.

This is a nice, quick, and easy read. The narration is simple and straightforward, with a nice mixture of heart and humor behind it. The characters feel real and three dimensional, and there is nice character development of the narrator from beginning to end.

And guys, this is my big brothers book! That is so cool to me, that my own brother is a real live published author. So while I may be a teensy bit biased, I would still recommend this book anyway. I can see where he drew inspiration from real life, and I can also see where his creativity shines through.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the concept of this book -- using the letters as a way to tell the story between a cancer-victim mother and her son. One might expect it to be sort of a downer -- reading letters from a died-too-young mother from the beyond doesn't exactly scream "light summer read" -- but it's actually quite lighthearted and funny. The personal voice of the author comes through in a way that you almost feel like you're reading his journal and the letters from the mother are real.

[Michele Merrill]

I absolutely loved this! I was laughing and crying and had so many awww moments. I would definitely recommend.