Review: A Graceful Exit
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 30, 2014
The author begins with hesitancy and misgivings, wondering if she has the right to tell the circumstances of her mother's life:  her limited ability to communicate and reason, the abuse she endured from her husband, and the greediness and cajoling acts of relatives. And yet,  she writes the book. Perhaps it can bring dignity to her mother's life. Perhaps others can be helped by it....I would say she was successful. The story of her mother's life and death is presented with careful attention to detail. We are allowed to see the terrible dementia, aphasia, and Alzheimer's. We are enlightened about the acts of the controlling and spirit-crushing husband. The evil relatives lurk. But none of this is the point here....A daughter writes a book about her mother, a woman she has never felt close to. And yet she is able to be there for her and help her through this difficult final stage of her life. After a last terribly debilitating stroke, the mother can only lie motionless and stare. It is no accident that those eyes are glued on the daughter. The one who could be trusted, who loved her, and treated her with dignity. One wonders that the daughter ever doubted herself. A fine book indeed.