LOGJAM OF A BEAUTEOUS MIND

In this memoir, a man recounts his wife’s battle with terminal cancer as well as the treatment’s distressing side effects.

Karp and his wife, Mona, were surprised when a doctor diagnosed her with stage 4 lung cancer in 1993. The mother of two, in her mid-50s at the time, had never been a smoker. But when a second opinion gave them the same diagnosis, Mona began treatment at a cancer center in New York. The author, who worked for IBM, became her caregiver. Her chemotherapy had physical side effects the couple anticipated, like hair loss and constant fatigue. But Mona was most affected cognitively. She called it a “logjam”—a mental fogginess that marred her short-term memory and concentration. Mona’s history of mental illness made her particularly susceptible to conditions such as depression and paranoia. This bright woman, a former English teacher who loved to travel, was now prone to psychotic episodes. The road to recovery also had unforeseen hurdles, like Karp’s own medical scare. Through it all, Mona fought to survive the disease and to defy the lung specialist who gave her only six months to live. Karp’s book is both melancholic and engaging. He describes the worst of the chemo’s side effects, including when a paranoid Mona became convinced a friend had stolen the couple’s belongings. His love and devotion to his wife are without question. He fondly details joyful moments, from the couple’s meet-cute decades earlier to bouts of happiness they reveled in post-diagnosis. The author’s generally unadorned prose in this touching memoir boasts instances of lyricism. In describing Mona’s hospital roommate, he writes: “She removed the raincoat and soaked kerchief from her wispy gray hair, shaking her head several times to shed moisture from the chilly outside rain before leaning back on her bed and lighting the dry cigarette with an expert’s rhythmic snap of the cardboard match.”

An absorbing and moving account of a couple’s fight against a terrible disease.