Amanda Bennett
Memoir
I really need to stop reading non-fiction books about people dying. They are just so damn depressing. But this one got such good reviews that I couldn’t help picking it up. Also, since my dad has been in the hospital recently, I was interested in her experience dealing with hospital bills (which are ridiculous, by the way).
The Cost of Hope is about Amanda, a reporter who meets her soul mate Terence, while on assignment in Beijing in 1983. The story of their courtship is hilarious and sweet, and eventually they end up married with two kids, moving around the country wherever Amanda’s job takes them. They are living in Oregon when doctors discover that Terence has cancer. And not just any cancer, a rare, aggressive form that the medical community knows next to nothing about. For the next few years, they do anything and everything they can to try to fight it, but (spoiler alert) Terence does eventually die.
Ms. Bennett is a great storyteller. This memoir flowed so easily I read almost the entire thing in one night. So what is the cost of hope? She doesn’t have a clear, easy answer. Yes, hospital billing systems are confusing and insane, but medicine keeps hope alive when we need it most. It’s jaw-dropping how the simplest test can cost thousands of dollars. Are these tests worth it? Maybe, maybe not. Then there's the crazy world of insurance, which Ms. Bennett also delves into. Navigating the US medical system is not for the faint at heart, that’s the lesson I took away from this book.
I would recommend The Cost of Hope to everyone. Some tears might flow, but you will learn a lot, too.
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