This Is Really Happening

BuzzFeed senior writer Chack debuts with a collection of 11 evocative stories mined from her personal life. In the opening entry, “Girl-Shaped Tornado,” a 19-year-old Chack attempts to tell her friends about her cancer diagnosis, often with awkward results. “Why I Can Never Visit Egypt” ventures into the world of menstrual cups, necessitating a work call-in when removal goes awry. And “Don’t Read the Comments” is all but self-explanatory: “I thought by now, after years of receiving countless emails, Tweets, Facebook messages, Instagram DMs, and—yes—even a text message saying that I am the dumbest, ugliest, most worthless flesh puddle to ever seep onto the Internet, that I’d have grown a thicker skin.” Chack writes with self-awareness and sarcastic wit, tackling emotionally resonant subjects. In “Greener Pastures,” she muses, “People love to couple cancer survivors and bravery, but they get the relationship between them wrong: Cancer doesn’t make you brave; it only helps you to see the depth of the bravery you’ve always had.” This wide-ranging collection should win Chack many fans. Ages 12–up. Agent: Tina Wexler, ICM. (Apr.)