Changes

Elsewhere the writing does falter a little, with many chapters getting a quick resume of some of what has gone before, which is the only instance of dumbing down, and reminds us a little of an American sitcom. So, coming as I do to comparisons, this book was also notably different to a British take on the same subject - the characters use first names, the ad execs are notably drug-free (apart from one idiot taking someone else's prescription anti-depressants), and they slum it at lunch-time (TGI Friday's, MacDonalds in one memorable situation). I'll leave it to the reader to decide which approach might be more refreshing - the Chicago or the London setting.

There is nothing so out-and-out unsubtle as an authorial voice pointing out the ridiculousness of these callous, work-hardened dolts and dullards working on a lost cause, and there is a lot of the book that does branch away from the unlikeable subject of cancer - and away from the totem pole. I might be being too sensitive, as well, but I really did not enjoy the subject being used as it was here, and especially as I was reading from the hardback and was not forewarned.