Can't we talk about something more pleasant? : a memoir / Roz Chast.
In her first memoir, Roz Chast brings her signature wit to the topic of aging parents. Spanning the last several years of their lives and told through a mixture of cartoons, family photos, documents, and a narrative as rife with laughs as it is with tears, Chast's memoir is both comfort and comic relief for anyone experiencing the life-altering loss of elderly parents. When it came to her elderly mother and father, Roz held to the practices of denial, avoidance, and distraction. But when Elizabeth Chast climbed a ladder to locate an old souvenir from the "crazy closet"--with predictable results--the tools that had served Roz well through her parents' seventies, eighties, and into their early nineties could no longer be deployed. While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies--an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades--the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care.
Record details
- ISBN: 1608198065
- ISBN: 9781608198061
- Physical Description: 228 pages : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 25 cm
- Edition: First United States edition
- Publisher: New York : Bloomsbury, 2014.
- Copyright: ©2014
Content descriptions
- General Note:
- Subtitle from cover.
- Formatted Contents Note:
- The beginning of the end -- Return to the fold -- The elder lawyer -- Galapagos -- The fall -- Maimonides -- Sundowning -- The end of an era -- The move -- The old apartment -- The place -- The next step -- Kleenex abounding -- Postmortem -- Elizabeth, alone -- Bedtime stories -- Chrysalis -- The end.
Search for related items by subject
- Subject:
- Chast, Roz > Family > Comic books, strips, etc.
Adult children of aging parents > Family relationships > United States > Comic books, strips, etc.
Aging parents > Care > United States > Comic books, strips, etc.
Aging parents > Family relationships > United States > Comic books, strips, etc.
Cartoonists > United States > Biography > Comic books, strips, etc.
Graphic novels > United States.
Wit and humor, Pictorial. - Genre:
- Wit and humor, Pictorial.
Biographies.
Comics (Graphic works)
Graphic novels.
Available copies
- 2 of 2 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Onslow County Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 2 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville Main Library | BIO CHAST (Text) | 36015000666707 | Adult Biography | Available | - |
