C. O. Moed

It Was Her New York is a moving and meaningful book written in beautiful short-burst prose. I was so happy to read it but was also sad… and inspired… and lonely… and warmed. My emotions truly went through a lot as I read the first-hand account of a daughter lovingly and honestly taking care of her aging mother, while struggling to take care of herself at the same time. The way the vignette-like prose was organized, it made for an easy read when I was in a particularly busy time of life, reading in short bursts but not being disoriented when coming back to it a day or two later. As I get older, I have begun to think about what it will be like when my own parents start experiencing health issues that require my siblings and I to switch roles from children to “parents” and this book’s honesty and lack of candy coating of the issues made me sad, but also hopeful; life is a circle, love is a circle, community is a circle, and family is a circle.… (more)

What an incredible book! I’m not sure I’ve ever read a book quite like this. Part memoir, part essay collection, part photography collection…this was a little bit of everything. It Was Her New York was such an intimate recount about bits of the lives of Claire and her mother Florence. Included throughout the book were pictures taken my Claire that were a perfect addition to help the reader feel really included in the narrative. I felt the whole time as if I was listening to a friend tell little stories that made me both cry and laugh, that both warmed my heart and broke it. Interwoven into this complicated mother-daughter story were additional anecdotes about the New York she knew growing up and the people that had small yet impactful effects on their lives. This is an incredible gem of a book and I cannot wait to purchase a hard copy of it.
***Thank you NetGally, Rootstock Publishing, and C.O. Moed for an advance ebook copy in exchange for an honest review.***… (more)