Author Logan Lee Lamson knew nothing about the reality of cancer, “but fast-forward to now,” he recalls in his diary, “and I feel like I could write a book on the subject.” Indeed, he has done just that in his memoir Losing Linda Mae.

Using detailed notes from a daily journal, the author and non-profit executive chronicles his beloved mother Linda Mae’s cancer, an aggressive diffuse B cell, non-Hodgkin lymphoma. With humor and introspection, he translates his recollections into a deeply felt narrative that’s written like a novel, with dialogue and descriptions. Poignantly, Lamson wrote this first-person account after his mother’s passing and his own subsequent diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Chronicling Linda Mae’s journey, Lamson writes in the present tense, taking readers through her autologous stem cell treatment, remission, neurosurgery for a hematoma and then the dreaded words “it’s back.” An experimental clinical drug trial fails, and the family gathers for her final days.

Lamson doesn’t spare specifics when describing his demanding caregiving: dealing with diapers running with diarrhea, hand feeding, handling medical staff, enduring family quarrels and his mother’s anger and depression. He writes of leaving his job and life in New York City to be with his mother in Wichita, Kansas, a return to happier days back in New York when his mother was in remission, and boyfriend breakups.

The author’s creative nonfiction approach sometimes slows the narrative down with unnecessary details and conversation, especially in the first pages of the 600-plus page chronicle, and this can lead to readers skimming pages. There’s plentiful dialogue, which enlivens the narrative but can also be excessive in places. Still, readers are likely to eventually be pulled into Lamson’s novel-like chronicle.

The story could use editing to tighten the narrative. Even so, the experiences that led to Lamson’s understanding of caregiving and the realities of patients with cancer might inspire those who are navigating similar challenges and loss.