As everyone may already know, I’ve been in a pretty bad book slump lately. Stories aren’t hitting me with the passion and drive I typically read and it’s been bugging me. So on a whim, I picked up THE BUCKET LIST, a new story by Georgia Clark coming out in August and I suddenly feel like my slump has finally lifted its veil.
Here’s more about the book
Twenty-five-old Lacey Whitman is blindsided when she’s diagnosed with the BCRA1 gene mutation: the “breast cancer” gene. Her high hereditary risk forces a decision: increased surveillance or the more radical step of a preventative double mastectomy. Lacey doesn’t want to lose her breasts. For one, she’s juggling two career paths; her work with the prestigious New York trend forecaster Hoffman House, and her role on the founding team of a sustainable fashion app with friend/mentor, Vivian Chang. Secondly, small-town Lacey’s not so in touch with her sexuality: she doesn’t want to sacrifice her breasts before she’s had the chance to give them their hey-day. To help her make her choice, she (and her friends) creates a “boob bucket list”: everything she wants do with and for her boobs before a possible surgery.
This kicks off a year of sensual exploration and sexual entertainment for the quick-witted Lacey Whitman. Ultimately, this is a story about Lacey’s relationship to her body and her future. Both are things she thought she could control through hard work and sacrifice. Both are things she will change by choosing to have a major surgery that could save her life, and will give her the future she really wants.
Featuring the pitch-perfect “compulsively delicious” (Redbook) prose of The Regulars, The Bucket List is perfect for fans of Amy Poeppel and Sophie Kinsella.
I actually knew someone who decided to go for the double mastectomy after being diagnosed with one of these gene mutations. She had already been married and had kids and decided that life is probably better without natural breasts than eventually getting cancer. After a few weeks of being away from her job, she was right back there working at full steam as if nothing had happened.
I’m pretty sure everyone knows this, but sometimes life gives you a set of challenges and your objective is to navigate through these challenges…or die. This is the kind of decision Lacey needs to make for herself, but like any normal human being it’s more than just a decision to have breasts or not. It’s a huge lifestyle change and you need to be willing to change.
I loved how honest and serious this book was despite the book and Lacey’s tone and voice. I found myself really invested in what happens to Lacey and almost wanted to reach into the book and talk to her about what she’s going through. Lacey just seems to me like the type of person who would hide what she truly feels to protect her friends, her loved ones, and even herself. However, a big diagnosis like testing positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation is very big to hide on your own.
And Georgia Clark really takes the care to make sure the reader understands how difficult and big this decision is. When I first started reading this book, I was already decided that I would get a double mastectomy if that was the case for me. However, as I continued to read this book I had to double guess myself. It would be a huge transition especially when you’ve been comfortable with your own body for quite some years. Losing your breasts is a big change and similar to that of losing an arm or a leg.
But the seriousness of the book is met with a huge amount of brevity in the form of several sexcapades. Lacey’s boob bucket list includes many different sexual encounters all of which are attempted to be met throughout the novel. I don’t want to give away the list, but it contains such things as nude sun bathing and having sex with a woman (Lacey’s character is a straight cis female). It all seems like fun and games, but at the same time you know that this is the last time you’d be able to do these things with the breasts you’ve had since you were 15. It really felt like an homage to your breasts and how the life after this one will be slightly different.
I thought this book was the kind of book that will make you think about real women issues like breast cancer as well as give you a little bit of fun. Not everything in life is serious and even though a double mastectomy isn’t a Saturday afternoon in the park, it’s also not the end-all of your life. I think that’s what I loved about this book. Cancer is scary. Getting preventative surgery can save your life, but it doesn’t also mean your life is over. If that makes sense.
I will say the only thing that really annoyed me about this book is the words-separated-by-hyphens. I think that Georgia Clark was trying to convey Lacey’s personality with this style of verbiage, but after a while it was a little fatiguing to see a lot of descriptive phrasing replaced with this. It’s a style choice that bugged me, but really didn’t take away from the story as a whole.
- Hardcover, 352 pages
- Atria Books (August 7, 2018)
- Rating: 4.5/5 Stars
- Find and Pre-Order The Bucket List on Amazon
I received a copy of this book from Atria Books for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
Simone and Her Books is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way affects my opinion of the above book.
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