Excerpts

Ruth Kelly is not fine. Not even close. At 45 years old she is suddenly diagnosed with a serious illness and is told she must wait seven months for surgery. She discovers that the Canadian health care is also not fine. Not even close. She must turn to the U.S. system to try and save her life. Outraged, she decides to sue the government – to very surprising results.

Closer to Fine is an autobiographical novel about a woman who faces illness with the usual tales of love and strength, but also with an unorthodox arsenal of anger and activism, Indigo Girls’ song lyrics and Harry Potter references, snake-oil faith healers and a profound meeting with Desmond Tutu.

For eight months we follow Ruth as she juggles Interferon treatments with her responsibility for a dizzying system of family dynamics, including a blended family of six teenagers and her own recently divorced and estranged parents. She is a successful screenwriter and volunteer fundraiser, trying to maintain both roles as the illness and medication side effects buffet her about. Ruth explores every cure, from the chemotherapy and surgery standards, to herbal medicines, meditation, yoga, and religious interventions. Every sacred cow from traditional and alternative medicine is examined and each chapter reveals a little nugget of truth that anyone facing a health crisis will appreciate.

There are moments of outright hilarity when Ruth realizes that her children have been stealing her medical marijuana, stashed in her husband’s sock drawer, and sharing it around school. There are quizzical moments when confessional friends reveal indiscretions in their personal lives as if Ruth’s cancer gives them license to imagine themselves as compatriots in shame. Finally, there are friends who surprise her with their absence and others who astound her with their support. The quirky loveable husband Robert is relentlessly supportive until he too reveals himself to be imperfectly human at a nefarious New Year’s Eve party.

Closer to Fine is an intimate and humorous story that will have you raging and laughing and crying in equal measure. It is an immensely readable novel, of interest to all readers, but of particular interest to the aging baby boom generation and all those concerned about the future of health care in Canada.