Book description
From Elizabeth Hay, one of Canada's beloved novelists, comes a startling and beautiful memoir about the drama of her parents' end, and the longer drama of being their daughter. Winner of the 2018 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonficiton.
Jean and Gordon Hay were a colourful, formidable pair. Jean,…
Why read it?
2 authors picked All Things Consoled as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I have a tendency lately. My elderly parents (Mom is 93 and Dad is staggering his way toward 97) moved to my city to be closer to us as they aged. Which was entirely out of character. For decades they have lived pretty isolated lives; we were never big on celebrating holidays or milestones. No Sunday dinners, particularly. We would try to visit once or twice a year. For the last 25 years, they lived in the Yukon. In 2018, they moved to Saskatoon -- and I didn't realize the level of responsibility that arrived in the moving van with…
Most of us have complicated feelings about our parents, and Elizabeth Hay is no exception. The time Hay spends filling in the family back story pays off by making the elder-care journey more poignant and nuanced than a sparser portrait would have produced. I read this memoir at the height of my own care-taking marathon, and while I appreciated every gorgeous word, the whole book would have been worth it for this sentence alone: "Yes, I volunteered to take [the care of my aging parents] on, but there was never a moment when I didn't wish to be let off…
From Jo's list on for commiserating over the "aging parents" challenge.
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