PRAISE FOR THE WILD MANDRAKE
Although this is a wrenching tale of a young man finding his way after being stricken at age nineteen with an aggressive form of cancer, this book is far from dispiriting. The engaging personality of the narrator compels you to turn the page. His Yukon upbringing and his university years marred by illness and dead-end jobs are elicited in such a clear-eyed way you’ll swear you’ve never come upon its like before. His voice is incomparable, lucid and irreverent in all the right ways. I will hold this book close to my heart for its honesty and courage and fine, fine writing.
LORNA CROZIER, award-winning poet and author of Through the Garden
This is one harrowing story, one that stares wide-eyed into the darkness. In it, Jobin defies the odds, not just in beating death, but by writing a book that’s engaging, casually brilliant, often funny and, despite the subject, impossible to put down. Reading The Wild Mandrake is truly a matter of life or death.
BILL GASTON, author of Just Let Me Look at You
How do you run if the killer lurks within? Where do you hide? Does anyone, ever, outrun themselves? Jason Jobin asks these questions and delivers an intimate, masterful story about endlessly circling the block, driving toward his own destruction, trying to kill the thing that’s killing him.
YASUKO THANH, author of Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains