Book description
"A story that lingers in the heart long after the last page is turned." —HOPE EDELMAN, bestselling author of Motherless Daughters and The Possibility of Everything
This provocative, poignant memoir of a daughter whose mother left her behind by choice begs the question: Are we destined to make the same…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Pieces of My Mother as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Given the nature of my own memoir, I couldn't resist the title.
In my book, I also sought to recover my mother and make sense of her history and the choices she made, as well as her influence on me. Cistaro alternates between past events and current ones as she comes to terms with her mother's abandonment. The book opens with the mother's leaving and ends with her death when the writer is an adult with a family of her own.
Cistaro recognizes that she will never fully understand her complex and self-absorbed mother. I found myself wondering at…
From Margaret's list on challenging maternal relationships.
Both a captivating and heart-breaking memoir, this book is the story of a woman and her mother—the mother who abandoned her and her siblings and father. It moves back and forth in time from when the mother leaves and we hear stories of what happened to each of her children, to the present day as the mother lies dying. This memoir is beautifully told, with details so sharp and clear you can almost watch the action as it unfolds to finally tell you how Cistaro copes with the mother who refused to stay. This story is for all…
From Karen's list on showing human life in its reality.
If you love Pieces of My Mother...
The Village That Betrayed Its Children
This is the story of a shocking crime committed in the 50s and 60s in a small rural village, and a criminal who was never brought to justice. The Principal in our two-room school was a pedophile who molested nearly all of the young female students. He was protected by…
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