Sick Joke

Sick Joke is one quirky travelogue. Glenn Deir spent two years happily stumbling through the conundrums of Japanese culture. Then he got tonsil cancer and less happily stumbled through the conundrums of medical culture. Sick Joke is a tale of two journeys that will make you laugh out loud.

Reviews

“Writer and broadcaster Glenn Deir takes us on a personal health journey that begins — as many often do — with the discovery of a lump. Writing with brutal, laser-like honesty and rare humor, Deir takes us from Japan to Newfoundland to the famed Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, to that dark place where we’re forced to contemplate our mortality. And to that place where we surrender control of our bodies and make that leap of faith to trust our healers. This is ‘medicine, from Deir’s side of the gurney.’ If you’ve ever entertained a doubt that your doctors actually know what they’re doing, this is the book for you.”

-Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC’s White Coat, Black Art author of The Night Shift (2010).

“Everyone who has ever battled cancer or known someone who has should read Sick Joke.” You will finish it with a renewed respect for what the human spirit can endure, and what a lust for life can get you through. Thanks, Glenn. Your book just might save somebody’s life.”

-Pam Frampton, The Telegram

“The book is funny – often hilariously so – because of Deir’s readiness to laugh at himself. But Deir is no clown; his voice is dignified, and comes across as true.”

-Darrell Squires, The Western Star

“As a funny, honest memoir about cancer, this book is really good… There aren’t enough funny books about cancer, and this is a good one.”

-Trudy Morgan-Cole, Compulsive Overreader

“Sick Joke is [Deir’s] humourous – sometimes hilarious – account of his fight against cancer. In this memoir he shares the details of his battle in a commendable, vulnerably comical – p’raps witty is a better word – fashion.”

-Harold Walters, Southern Gazette

“For non-fiction readers, Glenn Deir’s Sick Joke: Cancer, Japan and Back Again is a compelling memoir of travel, illness combined with bellyaching humour.”

-Shannon Webb-Campbell, Halifax Magazine