I picked up The Bucket List after seeing multiple posts about it on Instagram. I’m not sure if it’s widely known, but I loved the cover – simple but bright and eye-catching. Yes, I frequently (if not always) judge a book by its cover.
Lacey Whitman is a 25-year-old woman living in New York City. It’s a classic Sex and the City wannabe story – she fought her way out of her small town in Illinois to work in the fashion industry in the Big Apple. Lacey is living the fabulous single girl life. Late nights at the office or at cocktails with clients, tickets to fashion shows, renting designer dresses, cramped in her Williamsburg studio apartment, all with a small handful of close friends.
She’s made it. Until she gets smacked with a diagnosis that she never saw coming: Lacey has tested positive for the breast cancer gene. Although she’s young, her body has suddenly become a ticking time bomb. She can either wait and see if something will happen (and inevitably, it will) or get a double mastectomy, years before she’s even hit her thirtieth birthday.
This is not part of Lacey’s plan. She can’t imagine taking time off from her job (but at least she has health insurance to cover the cost of her surgery, should she decide to get it). She can’t live the rest of her life with fake breasts (or nothing at all). But if she doesn’t, the risks she faces could be much worse. As Lacey flounders in her decision, she and her friends create a “Boob Bucket List”. It’s exactly how it sounds – a to-do list for her breasts, before she decides if she’s ready to lose them forever.
Many women face this difficult, life-altering decision. This story addresses topics and issues facing women today – such as the rights to our own bodies. Finding respectful and caring doctors. The expectations of how women “should” look according to the fashion industry. Representation of LGBQT women. The terrifying costs of surgery and medical care.
While I liked Lacey’s story, sometimes her character grated on me. She pushes people away. She lies. She makes poor relationship decisions. Does that make her more real? Is that why she annoyed me? Because I have seen those same actions in myself? The reviews sold this book as a hilarious and sexy romp, but it’s quite sad. Lacey comes from a rough family life and is escaping her roots. She is very much alone in the city. Don’t get me wrong, there are spicy scenes – it’s not something I would read aloud at the family dinner table.
This book reminded me of Why We Came To The City by Kristopher Jansma. One of the characters, Irene, gets cancer and she has no family to support her. Her twenty-something friends are trying to juggle jobs and relationships while they care for their friend going through chemotherapy. Both stories are a harrowing reminder that young people get cancer. People with no support systems get cancer. It’s scary, and it makes me grateful for the network of people in my own life.
The Bucket List started to drag a wee bit for me at the end. Is Lacey going to get the surgery or not? How will she feel afterward? What will her life be like? Again, perhaps it reflects the real-life flip flop of such a big decision. Overall, I’m glad I read this book and I would recommend it. Go in with an open heart and an open mind, and you may reflect on a thing or two along the way.
Run Revelry 
Leave a comment