Our Cancer Year by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner is a novel length slice of life book that Harvey Pekar is famous for. This revolves around the year that Harvey had cancer (NOTE: He did have another flare up after he retired that wasn’t as bad as this one). Spoiler: He survived. At the same time as Harvey’s cancer was the first Gulf War and Joyce (a peace activist) was working with teenage peace activists from around the world. So how was cancer?

It sucked. Cancer that is, the book is wonderful. You see the beginning as Harvey realizes he has a lump, but being the cranky, stubborn person he is, puts off having it checked out. When he finally does get it checked out, he has lymphoma. And the horror starts. Harvey and Joyce are forced to deal with doctor’s who have no compassion, misunderstandings about the treatment, lack of knowledge about what their insurance will pay for and overconfidence of what they can handle. But, above all, it is a book of hope. Even at the darkest, you can see the hope for survival, not just for Harvey but for the whole world.

The art by Frank Stack is fairly minimal, but very expressive. You can see the pain in Harvey’s body and the horror of what’s happening in Joyce’s eyes. The reality of what cancer is like is brought front and center and made so you can’t look away. The book also deals with Joyce’s peace activism and her trips and dealings with her teenage friends during the first Gulf War. That part of the book didn’t work for me. It’s not interesting and distracts from the cancer story unnecessarily. Part of it might be Joyce’s writing versus Harvey’s writing. Harvey’s parts of the book seem much stronger.

Overall this is a very interesting book. I can’t say it’s a fun read since cancer is never a happy occasion. But if you enjoy Harvey Pekar’s writing and want to see a book length version of this, then this is definitely the book to read. Highly Recommended.