Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved

A young mother diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and a divinity professor discusses the anguish and delight of living in the dark.

After years of trying, thirty-five-year-old Kate Bowler, a professor at Duke's School of Divinity, had finally given birth to her kid with her childhood love, when she started to experience sharp stomach pains. After going to the doctor for three months, losing thirty pounds, and taking antacids, she was eventually diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.

Kate reveals her razor-sharp thoughts on religion, friendship, love, and death while guiding the reader through the aftermath of her diagnosis. Her life is filled with a vibrant, often humorous cast of friends, pastors, parents, and medical professionals. She considers the weight of positivism and questions why suffering makes her feel like a failure. She is trying to enjoy the time she has left with her kid and husband and knows she has to break the habit of watching the end and figuring out what to do next. Bowler, a historian of the "American prosperity gospel," which is the megachurches' belief that people can overcome misfortune if they want it strongly enough, discovers that after receiving her diagnosis, she yearns for the same "outrageous certainties." She is curious as to why giving up control over something over which you have no control is so difficult. She struggles with the horrifying realisation that life will continue without her and that she is not the centre of the universe, not even for her spouse and kids.

In writing, Kate Bowler embodies warmth, humour, and brutality. Similar to Paul Kalanithi, she is among the gifted and brave individuals who has the ability to express the sorrow she experiences upon realising her own death.