From Vanity Fair: The essays in “An Uncertain Inheritance: Writers on Care for Family” (William Morrow, 304 pages, $24.95), edited by Nell Casey with a foreword by Frank McCourt, are

“revelatory glimpses into the everyday agonies and occasional flashes of rapture caregivers experience.”

Melanie Lauwers, writing in the Cape Cod Times, says this collection of short stories and essays

… may help comfort you or inform you or simply let you see some aspect of your own life and be able to remark, “That’s so true.”

… The 19 stories are penned by such notables as Dr. Jerome Groopman (”How Doctors Think”); Julia Alvarez (”How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents”); Andrew Solomon (”The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression”); and novelist Julia Glass (”Three Junes,” winner of the 2002 National Book Award) and other writers who have less writing experience, perhaps, but no less ability.There’s nothing dour about the collection.

Yes, people are sometimes handling extraordinarily difficult tasks, their compassion often strained, but there are moments of great insight and humor — as most caregivers experience.

Facts to keep in mind:

• According to the U.S General Accounting Office, nearly 80 percent of long-term care is provided by family members.
• The value of “free” family caregiving in the U.S. is estimated to be $306 billion a year.
• Approximately 16 million Americans are part of the “sandwich” generation — caring for children and elderly parents simultaneously.
• Nearly half of all caregivers have symptoms of depression.

Related book by the same editor: ‘Holy Ghost: Writers on Depression’

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 8:50 am and is filed under books, caregivers, depression, families. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post