I wrote, and then mysteriously lost — I hate you, too, Microsoft Word — the first draft of this review a week ago. On most days, I believe in portents, which became one of the reasons I fell in love with Rehearsals for Dying: Digressions on Love and Cancer (Amethyst Editions; March 2025) by Ariel Gore. And when Word abandoned my draft, I wondered if the Universe had considered my draft to be unworthy. Spooked, I put the review’s reconstitution aside until this damp Sunday morning.