Eleven Years of Caring for My Mother: on Responsibility, Love, Death, and Ambivalence
About This Novel
This book is a memoir by Lynne Tillman, a well-known American novelist. With a calm, keen eye and unvarnished candor, she records the long years and complicated thoughts of caring for her disabled mother. It tells the story of the suddenly reversed mother-daughter relationship, and also writes down her thoughts on aging, family care, and death. In the past eleven years, the once capable mother has become unable to take care of herself, and the words Alzheimer's disease, hydrocephalus, epilepsy, and dementia have become the core of Tillman's life. Staying with her mother at home, adapting to her mother's mood swings, repeatedly going to the hospital, looking for caregivers, and dealing with repeated emergencies have become an irregular daily routine for her and her sisters. Although Tillman is not loved by her mother, she still wants to be a dutiful daughter and let her mother live well. However, under the heavy load, she cannot avoid inner exhaustion, resentment, and the conflict between responsibility and self. Harshly candid and heartbreakingly true, this is the self-confession of an "imperfect daughter". Tillman uses a very universal personal narrative that resonates with all family caregivers and provides comfort to every parent.
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