The Memory Palace

This is a very hard book to read. I applaud Mira Bartok for her honesty in writing about her mother's Schizophrenia and the way it affected her whole life. Although I am interested in reading about fictional characters who have a mental illness, this is not fiction and I had to put it aside several times to regroup. I went back to it because the bravery of Mira Bartok to write it demanded that I would. Her struggle to take care of herself while not completely abandoning her mother was a very fine line to navigate and it won't be easy for readers to understand how and why she had to separate herself from her mother even when the mother was aging and homeless. But the fair reader will not judge a situation they have never faced and will realize that Mira had no workable choice. I got thru this book by reading a light book during breaks I gave myself and I suggest that to others. ( )

A very sad book! It was horrible to read that these women had to change their names and hide from their ill mother, but understandable. Loved the quotes and little stories throughout. Bartok's writing is wonderful to read and she sounds like someone I'd love to meet! ( )

A heartbreaking account of the conflict between love and sense of duty to the insane schizophrenic mother and person's desire to live her own life.

There is tremendous beauty, sadness and compassion in this book. ( )

Wonderful, sad story that was beautifully written. ( )

I know I'm probably one of the only people on the planet who didn't like this book. It was honestly too bleak for me to finish. Additionally, I was a lot more interested in the writer's mother than in the life of the writer herself that every time she intruded with her own life story I got annoyed and disconnected. Just not the book for me. ( )