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In the style of A Year of Magical Thinking, this is a wrenching memoir about a family coming to terms with the mother's plan, after a long and difficult illness, to commit suicide.
Zoe Carter's mother was a beautiful, patrician, deeply flawed woman who suffered from Parkinson's, congestive heart failure, and other serious ailments. After 26 years of living with terminal illness, knowing that her future held only further debilitation and the slow erosion of her pride, she decides to end her life, and asks her three daughters for their assistance.
As her mother's primary caretaker, Zoe agrees to accompany her to a doctor who prescribes a lethal dose of Seconal, and later bears witness as a member of the Hemlock Society visits to explain how to kill oneself with a plastic bag and a canister of helium. For months her mother changes her chosen method and schedules and reschedules her suicide, driving Zoe and her two sisters mad with hope and despair. The sisters argue: How can they accept this decision? Who among them is willing to help her? Will they go to jail? Who can bear to let her die alone?
The negotiations that follow stir memories of a childhood defined by a glamorous mother and philandering father, revive old sibling rivalries, and bring into question family loyalty. Zoe finds herself examining her own desire for approval, and control, as well as her experience of being a parent, needing a parent, and finally knowing a parent.
Eventually there is compromise and courage, and her mother ends her life by fasting, surrounded by family and friends. As incredible as it may seem, hers is in fact a happy ending.
Wrenching, provocative, and ultimately uplifting, this is the story of a woman finding the courage to die; of a daughter finding the strength to parent her mother; of a family learning to love and to let go.
About the Author
Zoe FitzGerald Carter is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and has written for numerous publications including New York magazine, The New York Observer, Premiere, and various national magazines. Imperfect Endings is her first memoir. It won first place in the 2008 Pacific Northwest Writer's Association's literary contest and was a finalist at The San Francisco Writer's Conference. Zoe lives in Northern California with her husband and two daughters.
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Comments about Imperfect Endings:
Examines varying approaches to illness and death within a single family
Addresses relevant topic of choices with regard to illness and death
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Comments about Imperfect Endings:
had to keep reading this book to see how it ended
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out-standing in all ways
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Comments about Imperfect Endings:
what a sad but fantastic book,even when you finish this book you still think about it
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"First-time memoirist Carter comes close to perfection in this chronicle of her mother's quest to orchestrate her own assisted suicide. . . .With surprising humor and sensitivity, Carter presents the struggle to come to terms with mortality and family dynamics.""--Library Journal "(starred review)
ISBN: 9781439148242
ISBN-10: 1439148244
Audience:
General
Format:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 256
Published: 2nd March 2010
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Dimensions (cm): 2.54 x 16.51
x 24.13
Weight (kg): 0.454
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