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Moving Miss Peggy: A Story Of Dementia, Courage And Consolation (2013)

by Robert Benson(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1426749570 (ISBN13: 9781426749575)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Abingdon Press

review 1: Brief (159 double-spaced, small pages) recap of the experiences of author and his siblings with their mother's aging and (especially) dementia. Describes with gentle humor some of the difficulties that arise (p. 53 "Somewhere there is an older parent who just called their children to say 'I think I would like to give up my car and the independence that goes with it. Would you come and pick the car up, please?' But I suspect such conversations do not happen very often")I think the sweet spot for the book may be as a fairly nonthreatening intro to the topic for people with aging parents who have not had any friends go through this, haven't read much about it, etc. It's not nearly detailed enough to serve as a guidebook (p. 104 "We are not professional health care folks, so... more it would be unwise to pretend we could explain the differences between independent living and assisted living and nursing home care and on and on.")but also not actually very intimate or personal as a family memoir. For a guy who teaches workshops on "writing and the contemplative life" per the author bio on the book jacket, some of it was surprisingly superficial/impersonal -- of my siblings, this one was good at arranging the move, that one was our unanimous choice for talking to her about the need to move, and the other one was good at keeping track of friends/family visiting schedules.................the sort of observations that are interesting to chew over if you are one of the siblings, but not really otherwise.Having been through a similar experience, I did not learn a great deal from the book but did feel for the author. He clearly loves his Mom, and he comes across as an exceptionally nice person.
review 2: Intimate story of a family that moves their mom to assisted living because of her dementia. The author provides information about earlier years- the early years of his parents' marriage, family trips, more recent interactions when it became clear his mom could no longer care for herself. Each sibling and other family members play a unique role the care of Miss Peggy. The book is a quick read and tells an important story about family interactions through good times and bad. less

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