What Are You Going Through

In What Are You Going Through, a writer describes a series of conversations she has with people, including her Airbnb host, her elderly neighbor, her ex, a childhood friend hospitalized for terminal cancer — mainly letting these people speak for themselves. The only (kind of) plot is when the dying friend with cancer asks the woman to be with her at the end of her life. If a terminally ill friend asked you to be with them as they chose to end their life, would you agree? The narrator has to figure it out.

In one passage, the narrator is visiting her sick friend, and they’re talking about being terminally ill.

“I’ve decided I’ll write about it only if I discover something new to say about it, she said. Which won’t happen.

A good death, she said. Everyone knows what that means. Free of pain, or at least not convulsing in agony. Going out with poise, with a little dignity. Clean and dry. But how often did that happen? Not often, in fact. And why was that? Why was that too much to ask?”

Nunez writes, beautifully, about these questions. About death and aging and what it means to want to die. It’s about sorrow, and finding humor in the worst situations. I am not getting specific because I don’t want to spoil much more — this is the type of book you sit down, start reading, and want to savor every sentence.

Rating: ★★★★★