A review by starrysteph
Bless the Blood: A Cancer Memoir by Walela Nehanda

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Bless the Blood is a memoir - told mostly in verse - about Walela Nehanda’s experience after being diagnosed with leukemia.

But these words go far, far beyond the subtitle of “cancer memoir”. This is a story of a young, Black, nonbinary person learning how to face death, stand up for themself and their needs, and reconnect with their ancestors. 

“my cancer saved me, because did you know it is actually really so fucking terrifying being invested in living?”

It’s a story of love, and finding family, and choosing to take control of your life. It’s a story of surviving suicide and medical racism and transphobia and fatphobia and ableism and all those other daggers from people who are supposed to provide help, comfort, and support.

Nehanda reflects on their childhood, and their complicated & painful relationship with both of their parents. Their deep connection to their grandparents and extended ancestors were forged into some of the most moving pieces in the book. Heaven is at Grandma’s House - towards the end - broke me.

“A tenderness only reserved for myself,

where no one, not even me, 

can hurt myself.

What is a child

with no mother,

no father,

but they are both 

still living?

Does that make

me a ghost, too?”

The Mentor’s Silence, But You Don’t Look Sick, and Unsolicited Advice will hit home for anyone with a chronic illness.

And woven throughout every piece is how the intersection of existing as a person who is Black, disabled, fat, and nonbinary makes navigating the medical system a devastating, exhausting journey.

To me, this is an adult book. I think that teenagers could absolutely read and connect to the material - and the author is in their early to mid twenties - but it is not directed to a teenage audience. So I’m definitely puzzled by that categorization.

I do also think it needed a bit more editing and precision. Some moments were electrifying; bold; vulnerable; raw. And other moments were a little too repetitive or felt to me as though they were placed strangely. 

But this was an impactful read. 

CW: cancer, self harm, suicidal thoughts, medical trauma, child abuse, grief, death of loved ones, domestic abuse, racism, deadnaming, transphobia, fatphobia, eating disorder, pandemic

Follow me on TikTok for book recommendations!

(I received a free copy of this book; this is my honest review.)