Review: "Larry's Kidney" Daniel Asa Rose

Two Friday's ago, my computer started acting funny. It would load to my main screen, but then refuse to load any programs, so I brought it into my local Staples to find out what the problem was. Four days later they called and said that as far as they could tell it was a virus, and that my hard drive needed to be reformatted. I told them to go ahead with that, but later got a call saying that my hard drive had died during re-formatting. When it rains, it pours, huh? Long story short, I bought a new hard drive this past weekend, my husband was kind enough to install it (I think that he just wanted me to stop whining about how much I missed my computer), and things appear to be working great again! I definitely missed being online, however I did get lots of reading done, so bear with me while I try to blog about the books that I read while they are still fresh in my mind!

The first book that I'm going to review is "Larry's Kidney" by Daniel Asa Rose. I actually finished reading this shortly before the big computer crash, but hadn't had a chance to blog about it, so I hope that I do it justice. Larry's Kindey follows Daniel Asa Rose and his black-sheep cousin, Larry Feldman as they travel across the world to China in search of a good kidney for Larry. Larry is an American citizen, but the wait lists are so long for a kidney transplant that Larry decides to take his chances in China, where organs are easier to access. The only problem is that doing organ transplants for Westerners is slightly (and by slightly, I mean really) illegal in China, so they have to be careful. Daniel decides to accept Larry's invitation to join him in China, even though there were some incidents in the past that have prevented them from talking to eachother for quite a while. The two of them leave the States in search of a kidney for Larry, and once they get there, Daniel finds out that Larry is also about to meet his mail-order bride for the first time. Larry figures that it is kind of a two-for-one deal: leave China with a new kidney and a new bride. I won't tell you about what happens once they arrive- this book is simply too good to miss!

I've been reading a lot of memoirs and non-fiction lately, for some unknown reason. I used to be partial to fiction, but one thing that this book (and others that I have read lately) have shown me is that non-fiction can be just as entertaining as fiction! I really loved this story, and in fact I kept forgetting that this was a true story because it was alternately entertaining, funny, and touching. Daniel Rose knows how to write a memoir- I was at the edge of my seat waiting to find out whether or not they would be able to find an illegal kindey! Well-written AND entertaining, with attention drawn to the very real problem of long waiting lists for organ donations- this book is one that shouldn't be missed. I would also like to add that Daniel Asa Rose took the time to e-mail me personally when he read on my blog that I was reading his book, which endeared him to me even further. What a personable guy! He even agreed to do a short interview with me, and even though I haven't yet been able to take him up on that offer because of my computer issues, I may just still do that and post it at a future time!

Thank-you to Harper Collins Canada for this review copy and please take the time to browse inside this book and see for yourself why I loved this quirky memoir so much.