Rating: 
Summary: Gripping and healing
Review: A year after I had (supposedly) closed the door on a wrenching chapter in my life this book blew it open and allowed a true healing to begin. As I read this book I felt like I finally understood what the "other side" was... I was a man whose girlfriend was diagnosed with lymphoma and I struggled to be supportive, strong and appropriate in my heart and actions. I found myself thinking "YES... THAT'S IT" with every account of Handler's torturous descent into the pits of depression, his amazing resolve to fight and his heartbreaking account of his relationship with his girlfriend through the process. Every detail of Handler's journey reverberates with me, I have NEVER been so gripped by a book. The plane flight from LA to NY took what seemed like an hour as I was absorbed in the book. Touching down I felt like I was on a different planet. I immediately purchased a copy of the book and shipped it back to my now ex girlfriend in LA... and it touched off another healing there. For those of us touched by devastating illness, especially cancer with its appurtenant treatments and nightmares, this book is an absolute treasure. I feel like I finally "got it" and now I have peace. Few books have truly changed my life: this is one of them. My thanks to the author for an honest, visceral and dynamic book.
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Summary: "Dante's Inferno" meets "Friends"
Review: An amazing book. Funny and terrifying. It makes me think of Catch-22 -- a strong, independent character forced to survive in an insane and dangerous world. I've read this one several times, and it's a can't-put-it-down adventure each time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great heat and some light on living through leukemia
Review: Evan Handler does a masterful job in relating the journey through diagnosis and treatment of leukemia from the patient's point of view. His insight in to the inner workings of major medical centers are also excellent, and how I wish that they would be considered in the debate on health care. Seemingly cut-and-dry economic decisions can have a life or death impact. Equally inspiring is his ability to relate a central truth to those diagnosed with hematologic malignancy, you have to keep your hope alive to make it through. I was saddened however by his inability to relate how the way he chose to struggle with his disease impacted all of his relationships with others-- and to his relationship with the spiritual world. There are more inspiring stories of those who have not just fought their way through, but who have actually seen their disease as a special way they have transcended from the physical to the spiritual dimension of life. That transition has the power to alter all of our human relationships in a positive if not eternal way.
Rating:
Summary: a must read for medical staff, patients, fans
Review: Evan Handler shows how illness affects life, love, family, career and perspective. I reread this book once a year just to wake myself up. I am an RN, and need to see things from the other side. He's a damn fine actor too.....
Rating:
Summary: An invaluable roadmap for anyone dealing with leukemia.
Review: Handler's account of his illness and recovery is, first of all, a hell of a good read. He is smart, funny, articulate, and painfully honest. This book is eminently worthwhile for any reader who enjoys a gripping story well told. But it also is a priceless resource for anyone whose life has been upended by a diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia. I ran across the book serendipitously in the spring of 1997 shortly after David, an eighteen-year-old friend of mine whom I loved like a son, was diagnosed as having AML. I have Handler to thank for the fact that, as David wrestled with the disease, much of the time I understood what was going on, what was at risk, and what was likely to happen next. Handler's clear and powerful articulation of the patient's point of view helped me to help David--and for that I'm deeply grateful. Even when, after 16 months of struggle, his autologous transplant failed and his heart gave out, having read Handler served David's family and! friends, enabling us to understand the course events were taking. If you have a loved one fighting leukemia, I urge you to read this wonderful book. You won't find it comfortable, but you will, I believe, find it enormously helpful.
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Summary: what a story!
Review: I can only second the jacket blurbs on the back of this book that speak of it becoming a classic. Evan Handler survived a very scary cancer (AML), nearly dying several times from the perils of aggressive treatment. His account is gutty, real, anti-inspirational, comedic and at times outrageous. But it is always completely credible. He has an eye for the bizarre and a genius for capturing the complex emotional dynamics at work between patient and care-givers. A gripping read. Will appeal most to people like the author - young, aggressive, highly educated, secular. Readers who are just beginning treatment may be frightened by some parts.
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Summary: Insightful, Adventurous, Bitterly Funny & ENTERTAINING
Review: I must say, I consider myself a discriminating reader, and I found "Time On Fire" to be a compelling read - filled with unusual insights and a truly rare degree of honesty and introspection. I'm puzzled by the reactions of my fellow reader from Cincinati; I agree with the other eleven Amazon.com customer reviewers - "Time On Fire" is an excellent example of someone turning a harrowing experience into a valuable and entertaining series of lessons for all of us.
Rating:
Summary: great true story
Review: I'm a physician and I don't read many books except profesionally. I found this on a table at The local bookstore and took it along on a cruise. I couldn't put it down. Great suspenseful writing, very honest and quite interesting to read from a patients's perspective. I highly reccommend it to physicians.
Rating:
Summary: Time for my Annual Reading of this book...
Review: Once a year, I revisit this story, as every nurse and physician should. Take an active role in your treatment, and be an informed consumer...these days, healthcare is a business. Don't let the residents and fellows treat you like a pincushion. This book changed the way I do my job.
Rating:
Summary: Time for my Annual Reading of this book...
Review: Once a year, I revisit this story, as every nurse and physician should. Take an active role in your treatment, and be an informed consumer...these days, healthcare is a business. Don't let the residents and fellows treat you like a pincushion. This book changed the way I do my job.
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