Read this when
Tangles
She's still here, but she's leaving. Tangles is for anyone grieving a parent who hasn't gone yet.
Who it's for
Leavitt documents her mother Midge's early-onset Alzheimer's over roughly six years, from first signs to death, showing both the losses and the strange, funny and tender moments along the way.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Tangles is a graphic memoir by Sarah Leavitt, first published in 2010 by Freehand Books, about her mother Midge's Alzheimer's disease. In spare black-and-white drawings and candid prose, it follows Midge's decline from an intellectual, nature-loving woman to someone struggling with basic comprehension, and the family's responses as her father, Leavitt, her sister and her partner share the caregiving.
Where to find it
In print (Freehand Books in Canada, Skyhorse in the US, Jonathan Cape in the UK) and available through libraries. Not public domain.
Before you start
Heads up: A parent's dementia and death.
Age: Ages 14+
the best way out is always through.Robert Frost, “A Servant to Servants,” North of Boston
