The Game We Live: A Story about Noah and the Cat Across the Hall

Diagnosed with stage four cancer, doctors gave Noah Gödtz eight days to live. He reminisces on his twenty-six-year military career. He cringes at the life he once had with his ex-fiancée, Megan, as he lays in a hospital bed on the eighth floor for terminally ill patients at Saint Sophia Hospital. His brother Franklyn Gödtz visits him every day. Noah's room is across the hall from Michael Ansihl. Michael has lung cancer and, like Noah, doesn't have a long life expectancy. Noah and Franklyn refer to Michael as the cat across the hall due to his whining and complaining. 

Noah spends the days he has left enjoying his brother's company and the cat across the hall's entertainment. To make his time as comfortable as possible, Franklyn has chosen to enlighten Noah about his views regarding the game of life and examine what happens after death. They watch movies to solidify Franklyn's views further, and Franklyn explores Freud's psychoanalytic theory about id, ego, and super-ego. These three concepts construct and describe the activities and interactions of a person's mental life. Noah asks questions and is interested in Franklyn's theories and beliefs, and he wants Franklyn to teach him as much as possible. 

The general feel for this story is love and nurture. Franklyn visited his brother and made sure he was treated well. The dialogue was lengthy. However, readers interested in fiction that explores what-ifs regarding the afterlife will find this book tantalizing. A book that is warm, thought-provoking, and inspiring. The relationship between Franklyn and Noah is wonderfully written and every thread and weave of it will keep readers spellbound. The Game We Live: A Story about Noah and the Cat Across the Hall is a tale with strong psychological underpinnings and moments that will tug on the reader's heart long after the book is put down.