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mamagames's review against another edition
4.0
Chose this title because it was written by a local author, about our area, and it's a memoir, which I really enjoy. Read this in bigger gulps - I could empathize with her journey as a mother and about those cold, cold winters.
eileen9311's review against another edition
5.0
This memoir caught my eye because of the consistently positive reviews. Although I’d merely skimmed them, all the stars made an impression and I proceeded to Amazon. When it arrived and I became aware of the content, however, I began to have second thoughts. Elizabeth Cohen is a journalist with impressive credentials, and here she presents a moving, honest account of her life as a single mom with a very young child while caring for her father in advancing stages of Alzheimer’s. Their living arrangement brings its own challenges, as their home is very rural, in upstate New York. As their address implies, there really are bears nearby. Here she muses that this might be a good thing. One gets the flavor of her winsome approach to this very challenging situation!
‘The idea of bears here, on Beartown Road, is pleasant. They are my gentle, non-judging neighbors. I consider them my friends. I think of them now, because our isolation is suddenly kind of scary and I need to believe in a benevolent someone nearby. The house is the last house on the road, surrounded by fields overgrown with tall, brown weeds. We are miles from the nearest convenience store.’
Although I was initially squeamish about reading an account of a loved one with a deteriorating Alzheimer’s condition, I came to find this enjoyable and thought provoking. Through her considerable writing skills, the author expresses the irony and joy to be found in her recurring struggles. Constantly fascinating for her is the realization that daughter Ava and Daddy are on opposite ends of the life’s learning curve – a ‘parabola’.. The prevailing uphill battle, the author’s intrinsic humor, together with small satisfactions of daily life combine to yield a quiet treasure. It’s easy to agree with the stars!
‘The idea of bears here, on Beartown Road, is pleasant. They are my gentle, non-judging neighbors. I consider them my friends. I think of them now, because our isolation is suddenly kind of scary and I need to believe in a benevolent someone nearby. The house is the last house on the road, surrounded by fields overgrown with tall, brown weeds. We are miles from the nearest convenience store.’
Although I was initially squeamish about reading an account of a loved one with a deteriorating Alzheimer’s condition, I came to find this enjoyable and thought provoking. Through her considerable writing skills, the author expresses the irony and joy to be found in her recurring struggles. Constantly fascinating for her is the realization that daughter Ava and Daddy are on opposite ends of the life’s learning curve – a ‘parabola’.. The prevailing uphill battle, the author’s intrinsic humor, together with small satisfactions of daily life combine to yield a quiet treasure. It’s easy to agree with the stars!
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