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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
This is a very touching memoir about losing your parents and the struggles of Alzheimer's.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Great memoir about the bizarre upbringing and family history of Red from OITNB and Star Trek. She’s an eloquent writer, and love hearing her read aloud. I heard her interview with Teri Gross and I was hooked. Heavy content, but beautifully written.
I loved the story, the memories, the relationships, very tenderly portrayed. but I just winder how many times a thesaurus was consulted.
I wanted to read this book after listening to an excellent interview with the author on RTÉ radio. She is a successful TV and stage actress but this book is more about her place in a large Irish-American family (second child, oldest daughter) and was prompted by the deaths of both her parents over the course of a few years - her mother slowly of Alzheimer’s, her Dad reasonably quickly after a cancer diagnosis. It is an excellent depiction of an adult child’s perspective on their parents own childhoods, their marriage, their siblings and their own independent relationships with the parents. It is in no way idolized, some of it must have been hard to write, and possibly hard for family members to read, but it feels driven by a core truth.
The book is structured well, dealing first with her father (who died first) and then her mother. It is heartbreaking at times but worth a read.
The book is structured well, dealing first with her father (who died first) and then her mother. It is heartbreaking at times but worth a read.
emotional
medium-paced
this is a good read. the vocab impressive, and the author really painted a beautiful picture. a lovely tribute to an eldest daughter's relationship with her parents. however, the entire book felt like exposition. i kept waiting for a secret to come out or the other shoe to drop and it never happened. the author bounced in between memories and the present, sometimes confusing. while this all kept me reading, it was also frustrating. in addition, the author was clearly very wealthy, which made some parts of the book unrelatable because they were so out of the norm. multiple servants, ability to travel at will by limousine or plane, top of the line medical care, fancy hotels, etc. i did enjoy the writing style. i guess i'm just not sure what the thesis of the book was. it seemed more like a collection of stories than a narrative. my favorite part of the book was the long vocab quizlet i made from the book of Words I'll Probably Never Use
I really enjoyed Born with Teeth, so I thought I'd give Kate Mulgrew's latest book a try. Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. I just couldn't connect to the characters. I couldn't connect to Mulgrew's relationships withe either of her parents. I couldn't connect with Mulgrew's siblings or parents for that matter. Two really damaged people got married and created a bunch of damaged offspring. To someone else, this might be a great book, but I just couldn't get into it.
Kate Mulgrew is a very good writer but I didn’t love this memoir of her parents.
