Mothercare

On Obligation, Love, Death, and Ambivalence

By: Lynne Tillman

Narrated by: Kim Niemi

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 Toibin), 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.

©2022 Lynne Tillman (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

interesting

It was an interesting indictment of the Medical profession. I am a Black female in my 70s and I thought they were dismissive of me as I am Black female and in my 70s. Welp. I will go forward continuing to sideeye, press my lips and expect that they answer the question that they act like they didn't hear.

Beautiful writing

Lynne Tillman captures so many emotions with her beautiful writing. I felt joy, sadness, and sometimes even horror, so vividly while listening to this book. It was as if I was with her on her powerful journey of caring for a parent. Anyone who has had a similar experience will see their feelings articulated in her work. Lynne Tillman is on of the most important writers of our time, and deserves even more recognition and exposure. I wish all of her work was available on Audible!

Narration ... meh

Narration had too quick pacing at times and was robotic. Probably a better book to read.

The book was enjoyable.

The book was good, the reader was not good. I felt like the book was read by AI.

Not the book I thought it would be.

I was disappointed in that I thought the book would be relate-able as an everyman story of the burdens of having to take care of loved ones - the sacrifices, the exhaustion, the sadness of expecting the inevitable. Instead what I found was that the author never liked her mother and hated to be stuck in the same space with her. It was more of her personal story, yet she never reveal why she hated her mother. Don't read this book if you want to know what to expect when taking care of a loved one.