Sheila's Dying

by Alden R. Carter

Just as high school junior Jerry Kincaid is considering breaking up with his girlfriend, he discovers that she has a terminal case of cancer.

Genres: Fiction, Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Wiseman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to read this in middle school and boo-hooed through most of it then. Apparently it has the same effect now.

[Julie Decker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jerry has decided he needs to dump Sheila because she promised him sex and then didn't deliver. Only to find that when he was about to dump her, she gets diagnosed with terminal cancer. Not only does he now feel like he has to stick by her and not break up with her; he has to deal with her friend Bonnie, with whom he never did get along . . . they've got to try for Sheila's sake. Jerry has no idea if Sheila is going to live very long, nor does he have much confidence in his ability to help Sheila with other problems in her life, but he does have to take a good look at himself and his relationships with others before he can be anybody else's rock.

I have to admit I didn't finish this book because I read it when I was pretty young and the idea of a girl my age dying of uterine cancer was really scary to me (and I didn't like scary books, especially when they were about something that could happen). So that's a biased reason, and I managed to get over that for other books I read. That said, other things about it also put me off. Most notably, Jerry was such a jerk. So simplistic--planning to dump a girl because she wouldn't put out and he felt he deserved sex from her. But him being a jerk wasn't the only reason I couldn't connect to this. It was over the top. So was everything else in the book. Everybody played a role, with the best friend, the grandma, the sports coach--everybody was just kind of a stereotype with no nuances. So I wasn't invested enough to find out if Jerry would turn himself around. I decided to spare myself the possible scary/depressing death of Sheila and cut myself loose from the book.

[Liyana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I find this book rather annoying at some parts, but it's still good enough to read through the whole plot.

Imagine your girlfriend is dying of cancer (I'm just going to spoil it anyway for you as if the title isn't obvious enough) when you were just about to break up with her. What would you do in honour of your relationship? Go through it and stay with her, because it's the right thing to do.

So Sheila's boyfriend (Jerry) went through an ordeal to keep Sheila up in the spirits where he even risked losing his place in the basketball team. Looking after Sheila's grandmother suddenly becomes a chore for him and it isn't easy when she's reverted to her old habit of drinking. Then there came Bonnie, Sheila's best friend, who just annoys him at every chance she gets, thus earning her the nickname 'Tiger'.

The story builds up to how both Jerry and Bonnie have to compromise with each other if they're going to survive through Sheila's dying. Along the way, not only do they manage to keep the grandmother out of the pub, but mutual attraction also starts to develop between them.

The part that annoys me is Sheila's character, who can be so selfish, demanding, and sometimes crazy. Which to no surprise why Jerry would want to break up with her in the first place.

Kudos to Jerry-O, for being a real fictional hero.

[Erica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sheila's dying; The definition of 'so bad its good.' I pulled this one out of a discarded book pile simply because the straightforwardness of the title amused me. I was even more amused though when it took more than half of the book to get to the part where Sheila starts dying. So the entire first half of the book is pretty much pointless. Okay maybe not all of it, but introducing characters and setting doesn't really need to take over 100 pages >_> Especially characters as dry and two dimensional as this books. Its funny because one of the characters is always chewing into another characters because of there constant use of cliches, whereas pretty much every aspect of this book is cliche. From the quiet and thoughtful but tough Indian student to the over the top inconsiderate sports coach. I knew what every page was going to be about 5 pages before I read it.

All this put together, the book itself is really a riot. Is it awful that I found myself laughing out loud to a book about a girl who dies of cancer? more than likely. But seriously. this book is rediculous, check it out.

[Swankivy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up in spite of the morbid title and started reading it in eighth grade. I couldn't even focus on what the story was about because I was all horrified by the fact that it actually did involve a Shelia who was dying, and the way she was dying was some kind of thing that made her hemorrhage from her pants parts so she thought it was a heavy period at first. Freaked me the hell out. I don't think I actually finished it, but it was about a boy feeling like he can't dump his girlfriend now that she's actually dying of cancer, and I guess I was so put off by the boyfriend's attitude that I didn't want to know what happened next. Wow.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of strange book.

[elissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't like this one as much as UP COUNTRY (when I read them in the 90's), but I still remember parts of it, so it was definitely good, too. A precursor to all the Lurlene McDaniel books.