Caregivers Extraordinaire

Linda Heltzer, who usually writes about downsizing, recently posted a blog entry about the challenges of caregiving.

She says: "Along with the dilemma of what to do with all the stuff that we accumulate in life comes the dilemma of what to do with a life itself, with a person who has aged and lost the ability to take care of him or her self. Although this is not a topic we usually write about, I would like to share the stories of three of the best writers writing today who have tackled the subject, each in a personal and poignant way."

1. No Saints Around Here: A Caregiver’s Days by Susan Allen Toth
Susan Allen Toth describes what it’s like to be in the trenches every hour of every day caring for her husband. With grace and humor, Scott Simon shows us how to just be there for a dear loved one, for him his beloved mother, in the last days of her life. Roz Chast uses her laugh-out-loud funny and, at the same time, devastatingly real cartoons to depict the old-age roller coaster ride of her parents.

2. Unforgettable: A Son, a Mother, and the Lessons of a Lifetime by Scott Simon

Scott Simon, the NPR correspondent, has written a memoir of Patricia Lyons Simon Newman Gelbin, a gorgeous, glamorous, funny, mischievous, three-times married woman who raised Simon as a single mother for much of his life.

3. Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir by Roz Chast
With equal parts laughter and tears, New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast tells the story of taking on the parenting duties for her elderly and somewhat recalcitrant parents.

Check out the blog posting for more in-depth reviews.