A lively testament to a complicated though loving mother-daughter relationship.
A page-turning, humorous account of one woman’s experience during her difficult mother’s turbulent journey into old age.
When the author’s father died, Morse convinced her mother that moving closer to family would be a wise decision. This began “Operation Ma,” and the author became the “self-appointed CEO/CFO of Op Ma: a series of maneuvers we siblings design as we go, to make our mother’s years as a widow (left with suddenly limited resources and risky ideas) as comfortable and safe as possible.” Morse’s role as caretaker was complicated by her own daily needs as a mother of three teenagers and wife of actor David Morse. Not merely a rosy-cheeked grandmother, the author’s mother was highly unconventional: “Ma’s voracious intellectual curiosity and zest for living has taken her down many interesting paths,” writes Morse. Always searching for answers to life’s big questions, Ma’s short list of obsessions included Roman Catholicism, astrology, the Montessori method, transcendental meditation, Silva Mind Control, health food, vitamins, full-spectrum lights and Reiki. Pushy and determined, she inevitably dragged her family along through her exploration of new realms. Morse begins her memoir on the day when her 85-year-old mother became an Orthodox Christian nun, and moves the story along by jumping back in time and filling in with family history. The author analyzes why as a child she assumed the role of caretaker within the family, and she examines her family life a father who drank and gambled too much and a strong-willed, kooky mother.
A lively testament to a complicated though loving mother-daughter relationship.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4532-2290-4
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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