Exercising the brain

I walked past a Riot Art and Craft store the other day and couldn't help myself but pop in to have a browse. I have been drawing since I could pick up a pencil, but haven't had time to do a lot of it in recent years. Looking at all the art supplies in the shop made me feel like waking up the creative side of my brain again, so I decided to buy a new set of Derwent soft graphic pencils and pick up a new, convenient A4-sized art diary, so that I could easily carry it out and about to draw in, when inspiration strikes. I dug out some of my other supplies when I got home too, which includes the tin of 72 Derwent Studio pencils that my mother bought me when I was about 12 (don't ask how many years ago that was)! Several of those pencils are only half their original size now, but they're all still intact and none of the set are missing, so I'm quite proud of myself for having maintained them so well. The coloured, coated ends of the wooden barrels are a bit cracked now, but I'm sure the pencil cores should still be fine. 

I'm no longer a regular diary writer, so I'm trying to develop my skills in expressing emotions through my drawings instead. It's not quite as easy as doing it in writing - for me, anyway - especially since I'm used to drawing mainly still life, so that's something I have to work on, to evolve as an artist. I will get cracking on this once I get my hands on some blender and burnisher pencils. (Queen of Procrastination; that's my title.) 

Meanwhile, I have received the copy of Marc Levy's 'Et si c'était vrai' that I ordered online a few weeks ago. It's actually much thinner than I thought it would be. I really want to start reading it, but one part of me is nagging me to read 'Le petit prince' first; to not try to run before I learn to walk. Then there are the two Astérix et Obélix comic books that one of my classmates lent me, which I am due to return next week. I'm not big on comics and mangas, but I am told it is a good way to ease myself into French books. 

Well, at least all these activities will keep both sides of my brain occupied for a while! 

Speaking of brain training, have you all read the article in the Daily Mail about the plans of incorporating knitting back into the British National education curriculum? You can read it here. Apparently this idea came about when one of the primary schools found that it helped to improve its students' behavioural, writing and mathematical skills, while encouraging them to talk to each other as opposed to play on their phones. Frankly, I'm most surprised by the fact that primary school-aged children are even allowed to bring proper mobile phones to school. Times have definitely changed. No wonder why so many teenagers these days are so active on social media, but are severely lacking in real-life social skills. 

I knew there was more to knitting than simply being a blissful, tranquil way to pass time. Ah, if only I had started this hobby at a younger age! It will now be my new excuse for not being as 'number-smart' as I could potentially be, as well as for dedicating more time to knitting - not that I need one!

    

Coconut oil: some quick facts

I was watching a cooking segment of Better Homes and Gardens on TV on Friday night, which happened to feature Scott and Luke, a pair of contestants from the current season of Channel 7's My Kitchen Rules. Before I stopped following the show, due to the very obvious new direction that the producers decided to take (dramatisation, rudeness, nasty comments, and bickering between contestants, which sparked a lot of personal attacks and then racial slurs from viewers on the show's social networking sites), i.e. shifting the focus from the food to villain-ising contestants in an attempt to increase ratings, this pair of personal trainers from Bondi was one I was keen to see cook, because they had established themselves as the contestants who cook tasty, healthy food and had said at the outset that they wanted to promote healthy eating to the Australian audience. So imagine my shock when Scott added a generous tablespoonful of solidified coconut oil to the pan to cook his barramundi in, and explained to the show's host, "it's our preferred oil of choice. It's a saturated fat, but it's actually a good fat." I personally think it's a bit irresponsible to start saying something and then not fully explain it, especially when it could be misleading, and viewers are likely to just follow your suggestions blindly, because they are led to believe that you're a healthy-eating guru.

I felt compelled to write a quick post on the matter to clarify this, in case some viewers just take his word for it without doing some research, and proceed to completely substitute their cooking oils at home with coconut oil.

Image taken from Melrosehealth.com.au

I will admit straight off that I am a coconut lover and a big fan of all coconut products - young coconut meat, coconut milk, shredded coconut, desiccated coconut, McKenzie's Moist Coconut Flakes (I was so excited when I first saw this on the supermarket shelves!), coconut water.... you get the gist. And this was even back in the day when we all thought that products made from coconut flesh were all full of the same bad saturated fats as those found in lard. Hence, I, of all people, especially look forward to the day when research shows us that it is actually very good for our health to go a step further and incorporate coconut oil into our family's daily diet. Unfortunately, for the time being, we are still playing the waiting game.

Let's start off with some of the established benefits of using coconut oil, from a culinary perspective:

1. Tastes good;

2. High smoking point, so can be used for cooking things over high heat;

3. Quite stable and less likely than other plant oils to go rancid, since it is mainly comprised of saturated fatty acids. The shelf life is therefore generally longer; about 2 years. 

4. Is solid at room temperature, so it can be used to replace butter and lard in recipes that call for solid fats, e.g. pie pastry.

Now, why are there claims out there that coconut oil is good for you, health-wise?

Coconut oil and other coconut products are traditionally used for culinary purposes in many Asian cultures, but the popularity of this oil in Western countries only arose in recent years, after research revealed coconut oil as a saturated fat that doesn't behave quite like typical saturated fats. The fatty acids in coconut oil are more than 90% saturated1; however, it has been elucidated that a high proportion of these are medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), as opposed to the long-chain ones (LCFAs) found in animal fats. Research shows that the shorter-chained fatty acids are more readily oxidised to produce energy, which means that, unlike their longer-chained counterparts, they are generally not retained as body fat.1,2,3 'Their fast metabolism and transit into the body is associated with increased energy expenditure and earlier satiety, which can help to avoid overconsumption'.3 Additionally, unlike the other saturated fats, coconut oil seems to increase HDL-cholesterol (the 'good' cholesterol) levels a lot more, which may theoretically help to somewhat offset the increase in LDL-cholesterol (the 'bad' cholesterol) that it causes. These factors may in part explain why obesity and high cholesterol do not appear to be major problems in countries that traditionally use coconut as a main food source.

In fact, outcomes of a study by Feranil A et al4 indicate that coconut oil may be related to a beneficial lipid profile in pre-menopausal women in the Philippines, where there is a strong coconut presence in the diet of its people. However, the study used the 24-hour recall method, which doesn't really give extremely reliable, accurate data, and contrary to these results, in a study by Tholstrup et al,5 a diet partially substituted with MCFAs yielded totally opposite outcomes, with overall increases in total plasma cholesterol, in the LDL:HDL ratio, as well as in total plasma triglycerides. When looking at correlations between culture and food, we must also think about confounding factors, such as lifestyle and other dietary intake. For example, white rice is a staple in the Chinese diet, but despite what we know today about its high carbohydrate content and its higher glycaemic index compared to unrefined grains, this was not associated with overweight/obesity issues in the Chinese villagers back in the day. This is likely because the people did a lot of manual work in the fields regularly, which helped to offset the energy intake. Nowadays, these health issues are probably not as uncommon, especially in the more developed regions of Asia, where there is an increasing availability of processed foods, growing fast-food industries, influences on eating habits by American media, and, of course, lower physical activity levels due to the conveniences that ever-advancing technology offers. A similar sort of story rings true with the Mediterranean diet.

The health benefit of coconut oil is also suggested by the results of a study by Liau et al2, which examined the effect of ingested MCFAs in the form of virgin coconut oil (the variety containing the highest concentration of these fatty acids) on the anthropometric markers of obesity. There appeared to be a statistically significant decrease in waist circumference in the obese male study participants, averaging 0.97% from baseline; however, there were no significant improvements in the female participants, or significant reductions in any other markers. Nevertheless, this finding, plus the other aforementioned theoretical benefits, imply that coconut oil may have a promising role in weight management strategies.

Moving away from obesity and onto dental health, a team of scientists at the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland have also recently identified that enzyme-treated coconut oil inhibits the growth of most strains of Streptococcus bacteria, which commonly reside in the oral cavity and cause tooth decay, including S. mutans, which is known to produce tooth-decaying acids .6 This antimicrobial activity means that modified coconut oil may potentially be a useful additive in oral healthcare products. Don't go gargling coconut oil though - the study also concludes that coconut oil in its natural form has no such antibacterial effect.

On to the negatives.....

There is a protein called haptoglobin, which, when produced by adipose (fat) tissue, is directly related to adiposity (i.e. 'fat-ness'), and the blood level of which is typically elevated in people with diabetes and obesity.7 An animal study by Bueno et al,7 in which mice were given a diet enriched with various dietary fats, shows that both lard and coconut oil independently increases the gene expression of haptoglobin in white adipose tissue in mice, although it is area-specific and depends on duration of treatment. Other studies have shown that both MCFAs and LCFAs may increase serum pro-inflammatory cytokines via direct or indirect pathways, including certain ones that stimulate the expression of haptoglobin in fat depots.7 Collectively, these findings suggest that saturated fats are positively correlated with obesity, and coconut oil, though not definitively, may potentially contribute to it.

Although there are some obvious positive findings in regards to the health benefits of coconut oil, most, if not all, of the studies have been conducted over short periods of time only, so the long-term benefits and the long-term effects on blood lipids remain unclear. Longer term studies are important, since there are already some conflicting trial outcomes. Some studies show, for example, a decline in the enhanced weight loss, energy expenditure and feelings of satiety a few weeks into trials examining MCFA-supplemented diets, with some of the authors speculating that some sort of compensatory mechanism in the body may be responsible for this.7 Moreover, if we are to view coconut oil as a possible weight loss tool, there needs to be more studies based on people with existing weight problems, in order to more accurately assess the effects. Due to its variable effects on the blood lipid profile, more research is required to determine its relationship with heart disease. Without clarifying all these factors first, it is probably not advisable to use coconut oil as part of a weight management plan in those with existing risk factors for cardiovascular (CV) disease.

Another issue is that even if MCFAs prove to be fantastic, the concentration of these vary between different species of coconuts, and different coconut oils may have varied ratios of LCFAs to MCFAs; i.e. you may not get all the theoretical benefits, and may even end up ingesting more 'bad' saturated fats than you expect to. Once determined, it will also be interesting to see the dose required of commercially available coconut oil in order to reap its purported health benefits. One must keep in mind that regardless of if a fat is 'good' or 'bad', there is a limit to how much it should contribute to our diet. The World Health Organisation recommends that total dietary fats should contribute to no more than 30-35% of energy needs, and saturated fats, no more than 10%.1 Excess energy intake may not only lead to weight gain and increased health risks, but may also reduce appetite and therefore consumption of other food groups, which contain many macro- and micronutrients that our body needs to optimally function.

In my humble opinion.....

It is an established fact that coconut oil is healthier than all the other saturated fats and, of course, infinitely better for you than trans-fats. As with many food sources derived from plants, coconut oil may well also contain a whole heap of healthful phytonutrients that we are yet to find out about. But while it has been associated with some evidence of potential weight-loss benefits, albeit short-term data, its effects on cholesterol and CV health are still a bit on the hazy side. Looking at its effect on cholesterol levels alone, even if it may significantly increase HDL-cholesterol levels, it will definitely still increase LDL-cholesterol levels, whereas with the polyunsaturated oils like safflower, sunflower, and corn oils, they will both increase HDLs and decrease LDLs. Thus, at present, the healthiest choice of cooking oil, especially in terms of reducing CV risk, would still be the polyunsaturated oils.

Certainly, it wouldn't harm to occasionally use coconut oil in sensible amounts, and perhaps it may even be beneficial to use it in combination with polyunsaturated oils; but I definitely wouldn't go substituting everything with coconut oil, at least not until there is some solid, long-term evidence to support this.

And that includes for cooking barramundi, too, unless you want to add a lovely subtle coconut flavour to its flesh.

..........................................................................................................................................................

Well, that took me longer than expected to write up! Hopefully you'll now be able to make a bit more of an informed decision about whether or not you want to jump onto the coconut-oil-is-the-latest-and-greatest-health-food-discovery bandwagon ;) If you do decide to try out coconut oil, I would suggest getting the virgin coconut oil variety, since it theoretically contains a higher proportion of MCFAs than the norm. Also, if you're planning on using this oil as part of a weight management plan, please remember that exercise plays a very important role in achieving your weight-loss goals as well, together with a balanced diet.



Disclaimer: I am by no means a nutritional expert. I just happen to like knowing the basic nutritional profile of what I put in my mouth, and have access to certain peer-reviewed research journal articles (there is a great wealth of 'information' out there on the www, but be aware they're not all trustworthy, especially if it's regarding unestablished health benefits of certain products - any random person could have posted it). The above information is only what I have found at the time of posting this (I'm sure there's way more research papers out there with various findings, and more to come in the future); my personal interpretations of them; and the conclusions I have drawn from them. For professional advice, please consult an accredited practising dietitian. 

Reference List: 

1. Wahlqvist M. Food and nutrition: food and health systems in Australia and New Zealand. 3rd ed. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2011. p. 289-90, 293, 538. 
2. Liau K, Lee Y, Chen C, Rasool A. An open-label pilot study to assess the efficacy and safety of virgin coconut oil in reducing visceral adiposity. ISRN Pharmacol. 2011;special section:1-6. 

3. Clegg ME. Medium-chain triglycerides are advantageous in promoting weight loss although not beneficial to exercise performance. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2010;61(7):653-79.

4. Feranil AB, Duazo PL, Kuzawa CW, Adair LS. Coconut oil is associated with a beneficial lipid profile in pre-menopausal women in the Philippines. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2011;20(2):190-5.

5. Tholstrup T, Ehnholm C, Jauhiainen M, Petersen M, Hoy CE, et al. Effects of medium-chain fatty acids and and oleic acid on blood lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, insulin, and lipid transfer protein activities. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004;79(4):564-9.

6. Digested coconut oil could combat tooth decay. Nutr Perspect. 2012;35(4):17.

7. Oller do Nascimento CM, Hunter L, Trayhurn P. Regulation of haptoglobin gene expression in 3TC-L1 adipocytes by cytokines, catecholamines, PPAR-gamma. Biochem Biophys Res Comm. 2004;313:702-8.

Pearl Café: a review

Pearl Café: 28 Logan Rd, Woolloongabba QLD 4102

I had a day off work yesterday and the weather was sunny and fine, so I decided to go out for a spot of lunch at Pearl Café. I was quite looking forward to it, since my sister has been raving about their breakfast menu for a while, and is a regular customer of theirs. Unfortunately, it did not impress me at all, and even my sister, who hadn't tried their non-breakfast options before, expressed disappointment. I don't want to waste too much time blogging about an eatery that I don't personally recommend, so I will make this review brief.

Where to start?

The food we ordered: 

Citron presse: 'fresh lemon juice, mint, sirop de gomme, soda' ($7). 

'Fresh, natural Coffin Bay oysters' ($3 each)

'Pulled pork, cabbage & caramelised onion toastie' ($18)

'Roasted duck salad, quince..' ($24)

The Negatives:

1. Café temperature is set ridiculously low: Being a beautiful, fine day, it was neither too hot nor too cold outside, but the inside of the café was like a refrigerator, despite looking all cozy through the front door. If it wasn't because it took so long to find a parking spot, and that I really wanted to try out their food, I would have walked straight out of there. The cold temperature mirrored the atmosphere of the place and the attitude of the staff.
2. Extremely slow service: We arrived at about 12.15pm. The drinks came out pretty quickly, but my citron presse was way too sour, even for a homemade lemonade, so I had to let the ice melt to dilute the acidity, before I could consume it. We ordered half a dozen natural oysters, but they didn't come out until at least 12.45pm. They were served natural, so required no cooking whatsoever, and were dressed only in some diced onions, shallots and cracked pepper. So why did it take so long? Were they waiting for their stock to defrost or something? They did almost have a full house that afternoon, but the café is small with only 7 other small tables (mainly with couples) on the inside and 2 out the front, so it seems more like a time management issue. If they have problems with putting food out in a timely manner at lunchtime, I wonder how they cope with their dinner service. With the long waiting time, I expected the oysters to taste amazing or to have a really delicious dressing. Alas, they tasted just like how they looked - ok-in-freshness oysters topped with crunchy bits of raw onion. I've had fresher oysters with tastier dressings and a significantly shorter wait. Our actual lunch dishes took another 15 minutes or so to arrive at the table. Around this time, we had to add more money to the parking meter, because we had not anticipated that we'd need to spend any more than an hour at the café.
3. Extremely mediocre food: A picture paints a thousand words, and I'm sure you can see from the image of my 'toastie' above, that the top half of my baguette was burnt right across its length. I personally would be too embarrassed to put that on the table. If I burnt my bread at home, I would at least scrape off the burnt bits with a knife or slice it off, because it's not healthy to ingest. The toasted bread roll was too hard to work on with a knife and fork, so I ended up wrapping my serviette around it to pick up and eat directly. It was so oily that the oil seeped through the thick serviette to my fingers. I would not have minded so much if the food tasted good, but, sadly, it did not impress. Despite the oiliness, the pork filling tasted dry, and the sliced cheese triangles atop this filling were also dry, without enhancing the overall taste. On the contrary, its strong flavour overpowered the taste of everything else, except for the even stronger tarry burnt taste of the bread. I think there needs to be some sort of sauce in there to bind it together.

My sister's roasted duck salad was small in serving size, dull in presentation, and probably needed more duck meat in it to justify its name. She didn't enjoy it and didn't finish it, despite its meagre portion size.
4. The price: because of the above-mentioned points. I don't mind paying more money for good quality food and/or service, but this place was not up to scratch in either arenas.

The Positives:

Sorry, none perceived at this time.

If you're so very inclined to try out the Pearl Café, I'd give lunch a miss and maybe take a gamble on their breakfast offerings instead. Since my sister and quite a few people on Urbanspoon seem to be die-hard fans of their breakfast menu, I'm sure they must be capable of making some nice things. However, as keen as I am to try out good breakfast places, I don't think I'll be returning to this particular café any time soon. The experience has left me cold. In both senses of the word.

Melbourne: meeting Leehom Wang + the 'Music Man II' concert

Leehom 'Music-Man II' 王力宏 《火力全開》concert tour
The Plenary, Melbourne Convention Centre  09/04/13

I touched down in Brisbane on Friday afternoon, after spending most of the week in Melbourne, and I had the Guy Sebastian 'Get Along' concert to attend the same night I got back, so it's been, oxymoronically, a busy week of leisure! I never get to sleep early or well when I'm away from home, and somehow my skin always gets into a horrible, dry, unsightly state, especially when I'm in Melbourne, regardless of the use of my regular skin care products. Must be the bipolar weather. Fortunately, Melbourne's strong redeeming feature is its brilliant food culture, which, in my humble opinion, is second to none in Australia. This is why I travel to Melbourne at least once a year just to satisfy my gastronomic cravings. Of course, there are the musical productions that choose to snob Brisbane, too.

The main event I flew down for this time was the concert of my favourite Taiwanese singer, Leehom Wang - his first concert tour ever in Australia. I've been listening to his music since I was in high school (which now seems like a lifetime ago!), so it was, in a way, like I was finally fulfilling a longstanding teenage dream. The occasion was made all the more exciting by the fact that I was also 1 of 100 ticket holders to win a ticket to attend his autograph session the night before the concert. The experience was truly special and something I won't forget in a long time. For a multi-award-winning, extremely talented, handsome, famous singer, he is super nice and laid-back. I still can't believe that he offered to have the professional photographer on stage take photos of him with each and every fan at the autograph session. What a very kind gesture! He deserves all the love and respect he gets from his fans.

Shaking hands with Leehom Wang at the Autograph party (Mid-City Arcade, Bourke St, Melbourne)
(Photo credit: China Town Cinemas, Melbourne) 

With my autographed concert poster!

The organisers of the event laid down strict rules at the outset about not attempting to take our own photos with the artist and not asking to have anything else signed besides the official concert promotional poster (which we had to purchase from them for $5, at the time of ticket collection), citing security reasons. I wasn't told this until the afternoon of the autograph session, when I went to pick up my ticket. I had been spending some time preparing something to have signed back home, so I thought I'd try my luck anyway. This item is a new Moleskine music manuscript notebook that I had purchased last year, with the intention of working on compositions, but I have been putting it off, mainly due to lack of time (and laziness). When I was thinking about what sole item I should ask him to sign (I guesstimated each person would get about 3-4 seconds max. to 'interact' with him), I figured, what better to inspire me to write songs than to have one of my favourite musicians autograph my music book?

I proceeded to make this book, which was to become the most special music book I'd ever own, that little bit more special by cross-stitching a cute Margaret Sherry design to incorporate into a fabric book cover I was going to make for it. I changed the design a bit by stitching the tennis ball into a quaver instead, to make it more music-relevant; to suggest a pun: When in doubt, hit some notes/play music/etc ;) However, as you can see from the pictures below, I ended up sans book cover. I had spent a long time at Lincraft selecting which fabrics, patterns and colours to use, and had it all sitting in its shopping bag at home, ready at my disposal. Sadly, I just didn't have the time, and I realised I would have to sew a thin, rectangular opening on the back fabric cover to accommodate the elastic closure, which I had totally forgotten about. I literally finished doing all the backstitch the night before my flight, and had to wake up extra early the next morning to iron on the interfacing, cut the aida cloth to size and directly glue the cross-stitch design onto the front cover of the book. Thankfully, the finished product still looks good (to me at least). And yes, Leehom did agree to autograph it for me :)

For those of you who are not familiar with him, and might not know what I am harping on about, you can get an idea of what a brilliant singer he is from the following YouTube clip of his duet with the multilingual Canadian songstress, Lara Fabian. It is sung in English and titled, Light of my Life: (the music video is from 13 years or so ago, so the quality is, sadly, not that great.)

   

....Well, what do you think? Silenced by both the singers' great vocals? I expected nothing less :)

The concert itself was phenomenal and lived up every bit to my expectations. Leehom is a fantastic vocalist and a ridiculously talented musician in his own right. He performed brilliantly on the piano, the violin, the electric guitar (which was shaped like a dragon!), and the erhu, which is a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. Like the violin-playing member of Zac Brown Band, he has inspired me to pick up the violin and to start practising the piano again. I'll never be as good as him though - my fingers are too short and clumsy; my technique is weak; and, let's face it, you need some degree of innate talent (which I obviously lack) to be really skilled at an instrument. Perhaps I should focus more on the Chinese zither (gu zheng), which is an instrument I think I might stand a chance at being as good as him at, if I practise harder.

At the concert!

As faultless as the concert was, I do, however, believe my experience would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't for certain factors pertaining to the venue and the fans, which are totally out of the control of the artist, of course:

a) my seat and the one next to it had visible big blotches of dried blood stains on their fabric covers - gross!;
b) one of the security personnel kept physically pushing me back even when I was just standing there at some distance from the stage, not causing any problems (are they even allowed to touch me? I don't think so.); and
c) I wish the other fans were more respectful and mindful of other people around them - I had an avalanche of screaming girls crush against my head, shoulders, and back, such that my glasses were knocked off my face, when Leehom made a manoeuvre to shake my hand. This is how people get injured at concerts. Seriously, do other people really cease to exist when you're in the presence of your idol?! I certainly would not do that to anyone. Safety first. And where were the security guards then, I wonder?

But anyway, on to foodie matters, I took full advantage of the time I was in Melbourne to eat to my heart's content. My sister and I managed to make table reservations in advance at Shannon Bennet's Vue de Monde and at Attica this time round, to try out their degustation menus. It was all very exciting, so I think I might just write reviews up for them before I do the Sydney ones. Expect a whole heap of food reviews to come!  

'The Fault in Our Stars': a book review

My friend gave strong recommendations for a John Green novel, 'The Fault in our Stars', so I had been reading it during my recent flights to and from Sydney, and in my spare time since returning. I literally just finished reading it moments before starting to type this post.

An easy read with a total of 313 pages, you will find it in the 'teenage fiction' category of the bookshop (or online, like I did, from the Book Depository), although, I think the themes are relatable to people across all age groups, from all walks of life. In a nutshell, it's about a 16 yo girl with terminal metastasising thyroid cancer, whose life has been largely consumed by her illness, until she meets the boy of her dreams, who happens to be a one-legged osteosarcoma 'survivor'. It's one of those books where you know how it's going to inevitably end, and it basically just takes you on a journey through the last chapters of her life. The background theme is sad, heart-wrenchingly sad, but it is also spiked with humour throughout, mainly because the narrator, the main character of the book, gives witty and often humourous insights and observations. (A word of warning: reading this book in public places will make you look like you have bipolar disorder.)

Being written in first person from a teenager's point-of-view, the reader can expect the language of speech to be very informal and contain many phrases (too many for my liking) ending with "- or whatever", in typical teenage colloquial style. However, the author's good storytelling skills shine through in the structure of the text, from the well-paced unfolding of the plot, to the clever way in which he gradually and effectively paints out the physical and emotional sides of the characters in the reader's mind. He makes his characters seem more real and three-dimensional by revealing flaws in them, instead of creating cookie-cutter perfect heroes and heroines.

It is a bit unusual to see a work of fiction that tells of life as seen from a cancer patient's perspective, probably because it's difficult to come up with a satisfying ending, but this one is both interesting and thought-provoking, vaguely like a junior version of Mitch Albom's books. I am undecided about whether or not I like the ending to the story, but I feel that it succeeds anyhow in conveying the author's key messages. I am not sure if real-life cancer patients will derive much comfort from reading this book, but it will probably be appreciated by many others, by allowing them to have a glimpse into the (possible) complex world of those affected by cancer, or any chronic medical condition for that matter.

My rating: 7/10