In the happening-to-all-of-us category, Berg, a novelist, whose observations are keen and whose writing is its own pleasure, makes a curious choice. Except for a handful of Jeannes and Arts, she refers to her parents almost exclusively as 'my mother' or 'my father.' A hallmark of dementia is that the person knows he or she is disappearing in real time. They experience that anguish daily. Why rob these characters of their names, their identities in the world? Perhaps she needed to keep them remote, fixed at a distance, as she seems to have always experienced them.
Berg’s fans will be touched by her disclosures, and readers caring for an aging parent will see themselves in Berg’s painfully honest, beautifully written account, and be comforted by her insights.
From taking her dad to a doctor’s appointment to helping her parents downsize to a new place, Berg writes with care and sensitively. Her writing shines when describing not only caring for someone during difficult times, but also the love that remains after someone is gone ... With these reflections, Bergs sheds insight into the experience of caring for a parent. This eloquent book will especially appeal to those in an eldercare role.
