Cynthia Dearborn

I read this because it's about dementia, and I was looking for some insight. I didn't get it, because the problems of the author's father are unique to him, but I found the book interesting all the same. Dearborn is an academic, originally from Seattle but now settled in Sydney with her Australian wife. Her father Russell was still in Seattle, married to his second wife Beth and becoming a danger to her, himself and, potentially, anyone who knocked on the front door. Beth and Russell were living in a decrepit non-functional house, not paying their bills, and ignoring both Russell's dementia and Beth's ill health. Cynthia's goal is to move her father and step-mother into assisted living, but it turns out to be an almost impossible task. She is a very good daughter, especially when her family history seeps out and you realise just how disastrous her parents were. Her mother lurks in the background, an angry woman who hasn't spoken to her daughter in over twenty years, since Cyntha told her she was gay.

I was very engaged by this well-written memoir, even though I was expecting something completely different.… (more)