MADreads

This gal is really keeping it together (and it’s tough, let me tell ya!)

August 24th, 2006 Liz - Central Library

I read The House on Beartown Road a few years back when it was new-ish. It came to mind again today when I read Lisa’s review of the new Naomi Wolf book about she and her dad.

In Beartown, author Elizabeth (Beth) Cohen has a new baby and a dad with Alzheimer’s. She lives in rural New York in an old farmhouse. She also has a husband who may want out of the marriage and a mom who doesn’t always believe her husband is ill. Her mom says things like “He’s just bored, he doesn’t pay attention.” But she does know– she just can’t cope. So Beth and family take in her father. Two months later, Beth’s husband can’t take it anymore and moves. To New Mexico. 

So… Beth gets a job at the local newspaper. She gets her father into adult daycare. Her daughter Ava goes to daycare too. There are days when her father and Ava have a lot in common:

“Mornings are my biggest challenge…. I know they don’t mean to, but Daddy and Ava make it even harder. I put scrambled eggs on Daddy’s plate and on a plate on the tray of Ava’s high chair.
‘Okay everyone, dig in,’ I say.
He picks up his knife and begins to cut the eggs and then proceeds to try to levitate them into his mouth with the knife, a complicated maneuver that fails completely. Meanwhile Ava grabs a fistful of her eggs and flings them across the room, where they adhere to the wall.”
… ‘Ava, eat your eggs.’
‘No.’
‘Daddy, use your fork.’
‘Right, yes. Which one?’

E-gads what a woman! Her tone is exasperated, humorous, desperate, dry, witty… just the range of emotions you’d expect. It certainly makes me think I might possibly be able to hack it if all of this happened to me. And about that husband of hers that up and moved to New Mexico…. read it and you’ll see how that turns out!

Entry Filed under: Memoir & Biography, Nonfiction