Eric

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Summary: Eric by Doris Lund
Review: I am a 16 year old girl and I have read Eric, by Doris Lund multiple number of times and each time I read it, it touches me more and more. As I read more and more into this book I feel like I am a part of Eric and experiencing exactly what he is. His high and low points are extremely moving. This is a book that one does not want to put down throughout the course of reading it. While it does make you cry, it amazes one in how much courage and wisdom one teenager can have. Eric makes you want to try harder. It makes the reader want to find the happiness and goodness out of every situation in their own life.

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Summary: This book made me cry.
Review: I first read this book when I was around 14 years old. It touched me so deeply then, and even today, at the age of 31, I have never forgotten it. Doris Lund tells the story from her heart, and you feel like you are a part of her family as she takes you through their struggles. You feel the pain of each family member and at times it's heartbreaking. After finishing the book, I wrote Doris Lund a letter telling her what a wonderful son she had. She answered me back telling me that Eric's strength and courage are what have helped her keep going through the difficult times. She also mentioned that the rest of the family was doing fine. If Eric's story has taught us anything, it's that we should live life to the fullest. Eric certainly did that. He is an inspiration to people everywhere. I'm sure he's got a special place in heaven.

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Summary: Sappily sentimental. Bored me to tears.
Review: I hate to be the skunk in the five-star garden party, but I remember reading, or rather trying to read, this book when in high school some *cough* 20 years ago. I could barely get through it. Apparently I wasn't alone, because someone else had graffitoed on the (soft) cover, "This book sucks. Don't read it."

Sometimes I think there should be a moratorium on grieving parents writing about their dead offspring. Aside from one brief moment when Lund catches her son checking out girls in a hospital corridor or waiting room, I don't remember a single aspect of Eric's personality aside from "Mama's Little Angel." And although my memory is vague on this, I seem to recall the book contains a fair amount of delusional mumbo-jumbo about "God's will" ('scuse me while I barf).

If you want to read a superb book by someone who lost a child to cancer, read "Death Be Not Proud" by John Gunther. That book preserves every quirk of his late son Johnny's wry sense of humor and considerable intellect, and actually makes you regret that the son didn't live to take up the father's pen. Not only that, but Gunther deals with hard questions of mortality and loss without resorting to the kind of sticky sentimentality you'd expect from Oprah or the "women's channels" on cable TV. Cripes, even Marie Killilea's books about her handicapped (no, NOT "differently abled") daughter Karen are better than Lund's book.

The entire genre, for obvious reasons, is for the most part manipulatively mawkish, but that's what sells, I guess. If you have an "I Believe in Angels" bumper sticker on your car, Thomas Kincaide "paintings" on your walls, and every CD Whitney Houston ever recorded in your music collection, go ahead and order "Eric." You'll cry your eyes out and write a five-star review.

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Summary: Awesome Book
Review: I just checked this book out today and so far it is really touching. My sister was diagonised with the same thing acute lymphoic leukemia. This book brings back so many memories.

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Summary: This book saved my daughter's life!
Review: I read this book as a teenager when it was first published - back in the mid 1970's. The story of Eric's struggle with leukemia moved me deeply. After reading the book I promptly was tested and added to the blood platelet registry at NIH hospital, in the hopes of being able to help someone someday in Eric's situation. Little did I know that 20-some years later, now grown with a family of my own, that my own teenage daughter would get sick with leukemia. I know as sure as I'm sitting here typing this thru tears, this book saved my daughters life. Had I not read it and learned the signs and symptoms of leukemia, I would not have known to get my daughter to the doctor as soon as I did. She could have easily slipped away before she had a chance to be diagnosed and treated. I'm happy to say that last week (Jan 13, 2000) my daughter finished up 2 1/2 years of chemotherapy and has a very good chance of surviving. A heartfelt THANK YOU to Doris Lund for sharing her touching story with us. No words can express my gratitude. If anyone knows how I can contact Ms. Lund, please email me - I would love to share our experience with her and let her know how instrumental she was in my daughters survival.

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Summary: This book saved my daughters life!
Review: I read this book as a teenager when it was first published - back in the mid 1970's. The story of Eric's struggle with leukemia moved me deeply. Little did I know that 20-some years later, grown with a family of my own, that my own teenage daughter would be diagnosed with the same disease. Had I not read it and learned the signs and symptoms of leukemia, I may not have known to get my daughter to the doctor as soon as I did. I'm happy to say that it has been 2 1/2 years since my daughter finished up a long course of chemotherapy and is doing well! If she stays cancer free another 2 1/2 years the doctors will call her 'cured'. A heartfelt THANK YOU to Doris Lund for sharing her touching story with us. No words can express my gratitude. If anyone knows how I can contact Ms. Lund, please email me - I would love to let her know how instrumental she was in my daughters diagnosis and survival.

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Summary: A very moving Book
Review: I read this in my summer vacation in the year 2000. I am 14 and thought Eric was a very moving and inspiring book.About a seventeen year old boy who was diagnosed with luekemia. When reading this book I broke out into tears. You felt as you read it that you are a part of the family. You feel the pain that was expressed by Doris Lund. This book inspired me and taught me a lot about life and death. I would recommend this book to anyone who was willing to read.

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Summary: Never give up...
Review: I'm 15 years old, I'm a freshman in high school and i had just read this book for my honors english class. It was one of the best books i've ever read. It was very touching about a boy who had luekmia and never gave up. Not to many people in his situation can hold on like he did.

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Summary: beautiful and haunting
Review: This book means more to me than I can say. Eric's story is a beautiful lesson in learning how to appreciate life. Reading this book makes you feel as if you actually knew Eric, and makes you yearn for face to face meeting with this remarkable, courageous boy and his loving mother. It is a story that is impossible to forget. For me, it takes on an extra meaning. My Uncle Joe died of cancer in 1967 when I was 11. This was my first personal experience with death. Uncle Joe died the year Eric first got sick, and the two ultimately died in the same hospital. My Grandmother sat by her son's side for four years, as Doris Lund sat by Eric's side. And so, in addition to it's awe inspiring beauty, Eric by Doris Lund remains for me a tribute to the struggles of my Grandmother and her son as well. Rest in peace, Uncle Joe. And rest in peace, Eric.

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Summary: A learning experience
Review: This last summer I went through a similar experience as the one Eric's family went through. Only it was with my uncle, who was died youg, from cancer. I read this book to compare the two experiences. And Lund gave a great description of how she was feeling, what the atmosphere was like, and how "outsiders" don't understand what her family was going through. This book shows what its really like to know that a loved one will soon die. It questions our mortallity, and our existence, while at the same time showing what the medical field was like in the late 60's-early 70's. Its a good book to pick up.