Well, this is not a story to be reading during any kind of existential crisis or while pondering mortality on any level. The artwork is gorgeous though. In fact, I got distracted numerous times while reading just looking at all the lovely line work in the drawings. ( )

If you have aging parents, read this along with Roz Chast's _Can We Talk About Something More Pleasant_ as case studies, and also for reflections of your own experiences. You are/were not alone. ( )

Very sad, but brilliantly captured. ( )

The connection I felt to this book seemed more in spite of it's format than because of it. I felt some sections deeply, having spent many days and nights with my grandparents as they reached the end of their days, but this book, perhaps out of some admirable impulse to stay evenhanded and "realistic" gives no more weight in the layout or art to any moment over another, rendering it all in eight panels a page, whether it is depicting feeding a cat or the mother's last day. It had an unfortunate chilling effect for me, because beyond the mechanical limitations it is a remarkably perceptive and empathetic look at the challenges and rewards of being with the elderly as their bodies fail and death approaches. ( )

Excellent memoir. Poignant, emotional and quite moving. ( )