Six Months To Live – The Uncertain Future

This is a book that I read in high school. In the last two years there, I would often pick one period, other than lunchtime that I could spend in the resource room to either read, do some homework, or study for a test.

I would often dig around for a book to read and I pulled out this one which I practically read in one sitting.

Now, here we are again having read through it and I feel like my thoughts on it have not changed much.

Dawn Rochelle is diagnosed with leukemia at the age of thirteen and is immediately admitted to the hospital to begin chemo. While there, she befriends her roommate Sandy, also living with leukemia and the two become the best of friends.

While I admired Dawn for her ability to stay strong and not get upset, no matter the situation, I also felt like she tries to push herself too hard with that. Dawn, it’s okay to cry every now and then, in fact, it’s a healthy thing to do, to let it out. But it was still powerful how she saves it for the very end when she thought it was most appropriate.

She’s a fighter for sure, but other than that, I don’t have much in common with her, even when I was a teenager and it’s on a personal level like she’s a very athletic/girlie girl being a cheerleader and a little boy-crazy. I was never like that at that age. I do have a girlie side but I’m definitely not a sporty person so it’s no wonder when they introduced the two boys she and Sandy met at camp, I failed to see any “cuteness” or “hotness” in the author’s descriptions of their appearances. What can I say? I’m not into jocks.

I do like how she collects teddy bears though and I loved the character of Sandy. I was imagining her Southern accent speaking to me with each of the lines that I read.

We also see a love triangle begin to develop with the boy she meets at camp and the one she’s been crushing on for a few years so it’ll be interesting to see where this gets taken in future volumes alongside her cancer battle.

The story goes on with a feeling of concern as Dawn fights to survive in the beginning and there’s a moment of bliss when she goes into remission, goes to summer camp, and eventually, back to school until Sandy relapses. I was disappointed that she didn’t go back on chemo, but I won’t spoil beyond that since I think I’ve said enough.

This book isn’t perfect but I do have a lot of memories of reading it so I look forward to finishing the rest of the series.