Mothercare: On Obligation, Love, Death, and Ambivalence

by Lynne Tillman Narrated by Kim Niemi

Overview

Brilliantly original novelist and cultural critic Lynne Tillman became one of nearly 53 million Americans who care for a sick family member when her mother developed an unusual and little understood condition called Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.



Instantly, Tillman's independent and spirited mother went from someone she knew to someone else, a woman entirely dependent on her children-an eleven-year process through which her mother underwent many surgeries and some misdiagnoses, while the family navigated consultations and confrontations with doctors, adjusting to the complexity of her cognitive issues, including memory loss.



With her notoriously exquisite writing style and reputation as a "rich noticer of strange things" (Colm Toíbín), Tillman describes, without flinching, the unexpected, heartbreaking, and frustrating years of caring for a sick parent.



Mothercare is both a cautionary tale and sympathetic guidance for anyone who suddenly becomes a caregiver, responsible for the life of another-a parent, loved or not, or a friend. This story may be helpful, informative, consoling, or upsetting, but it never fails to underscore how impossible it is to get the job done completely right.

Editorial Reviews

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Kim Niemi’s delivery of this memoir takes a potentially emotional situation and, as the author does, expresses it with a neutrality that is based more in thought than emotion. Whether this work is considered a short memoir or an extended essay, it reflects the author’s continual adjustments through 11 years of caring for her mother, for whom she did not have wholly positive feelings. Niemi recounts the shifting responsibilities the author juggled with her two sisters and full-time caregivers. Niemi details the facts of Tillman’s mother’s memory loss, Tillman’s difficulties with the diagnosis, and the mother’s narcissism, which can wound without warning. She smoothly transitions from the narrative to the author’s periodic recommendations for those who face the problems of dealing with dementia, subpar caregivers, inadequate doctors, and contemplating their own death. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2023 - AudioFile

Kim Niemi’s delivery of this memoir takes a potentially emotional situation and, as the author does, expresses it with a neutrality that is based more in thought than emotion. Whether this work is considered a short memoir or an extended essay, it reflects the author’s continual adjustments through 11 years of caring for her mother, for whom she did not have wholly positive feelings. Niemi recounts the shifting responsibilities the author juggled with her two sisters and full-time caregivers. Niemi details the facts of Tillman’s mother’s memory loss, Tillman’s difficulties with the diagnosis, and the mother’s narcissism, which can wound without warning. She smoothly transitions from the narrative to the author’s periodic recommendations for those who face the problems of dealing with dementia, subpar caregivers, inadequate doctors, and contemplating their own death. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175003940
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	08/02/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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