The Wig Diaries is Ladd’s debut disrespectful cancer book, delivered with humor. However, Ladd is not phased by existential gloom, nor delicate sympathy. “This is not Chicken Soup for the Cancer Soul,” she states in her introduction, before launching into no-nonsense revelations about wrestling the big C, including the occasional idiocy of well-meaning advice and the precarious state of her bowels. Ladd’s bold use of black humor in this context is precisely what makes the topic so suddenly refreshing and approachable. The Wig Diaries intimately addresses the gravity of cancer, inviting the reader to bear witness to both the horror and the joke(s).
