In this book Lamatt writes about her years of caring for her friend Carol, who has Alzheimer's. Parts of the book were disturbing to read, with the first troubling part right at the beginning when Lamatt describes walking out on her husband and kids. Just like that. Seeing her 13 yr old off on the bus and then bringing her suitcases into her friend's car... That was hard to relate to. And then Lamatt wonders why her kids won't talk to her years later. Hmmmm. Perhaps it has something to do with her walking out on them..

Other parts were hard to read too, though very informative- the poor quality of care that her friend receives in various homes, the daily struggle of caring for someone who is aggressive, confused and resistant and physically larger, and the constant emotional and financial battles, as well as Lamatt's own health struggles. I appreciated Lamatt's brutal honesty and humility.

I'm giving this 4 stars for the story itself, and 1.5 stars for the writing! Though it is written much like a journal/diary, the grammar mistakes are so numerous that it kind of detracts from it all. Missing words, commas inserted willy nilly, apostrophes where they don't belong, run on sentences and lots of dangling participles, etc.. I have issues with self published books for just this reason... Editors and proofreaders should have reviewed Lamatt's book; as it stands now it reads like a rough draft. Nevertheless, I'd like to read her other book, Is Life One Big Goodbye:Homeless Woman's Survival Story. Her voice is good; her writing needs to be edited though!
( )