A review by recuerdo
Reading By Moonlight: How Books Saved A Life by Brenda Walker

2.0

A book that unfortunately didn't quite live up to its interesting premise, though at least I now have some new books to add to my to-read list. It started off well, drawing striking connections between the author's experience with breast cancer and the books (e.g. The Divine Comedy, Beckett's trilogy) from which she drew sustenance throughout her recovery. There were some quietly meditative moments in which she reflected on the power of literature to 'save a life': not literally but by providing a brief opportunity to escape from one's own life and slip into another's skin. However, these threads often strayed into literary analysis of various books and took a deadly toll on the pace of the narrative. Not altogether terrible, as some other reviewers might have you believe, but still not a book I would revisit or wholeheartedly recommend.