Kelly Corrigan examines the overlapping roles of being a daughter and a mother during a period of simultaneous crises. While raising two young daughters in suburban California, Corrigan receives a late-stage breast cancer diagnosis. Shortly after, her father, George Corrigan, learns he has bladder cancer. The narrative focuses on their parallel treatments and the shift in family dynamics. Corrigan describes the psychological space of the middle place, where an adult still relies on their parents for emotional security while being responsible for the survival and upbringing of their own children.
This memoir is intended for adult children who maintain deep emotional ties to their parents while managing their own households. It appeals to readers navigating life-threatening illnesses within a family unit. Readers observe the friction between maintaining independence and the instinct to return to a child-like state when facing fear. They finish the book with a realistic look at how humor and specific family rituals provide a framework for enduring medical trauma and grief without losing their sense of self.
Practical, inward-looking and clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Escapist Adventurer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2005
- Language
- EN
