Books: Journalist explores his family’s ‘ghosts’
June 2nd, 2009
Writing in the Washington Post, Barry Werth reviews “Annie’s Ghosts” by Post associate editor Steve Luxenberg.
Luxenberg uses his background as a journalist to construct a “probing, wise and affecting new memoir” about a family secret, Werth writes. Why had Luxenberg’s mother said she was an only child when she actually had a sibling? Her sister Annie, who had disabilities, was sent to an institution.
[Annie Cohen] was born in 1919 with a deformed leg and with mental challenges that today would classify her as borderline mentally disabled. The first secret that Luxenberg uncovered — the one that would propel him to dig far beyond Annie’s unhappy life to the “ghosts” of the title — was that she’d been sent away not, as his mother told her social worker, when she was 2 and Beth 4, but after suffering a psychotic break when Annie was nearly 21 and Beth 23, unmarried and still living at home.
Not only had Beth not been an only child … but she also had lived up until adulthood under the same roof as Annie, along with the shame and stigma of having a damaged family member at a time when mental and physical deformities were poorly understood and worried over as darkly hereditary and reflective of everyone in the household.
See also:
A journalist uncovers his family’s ‘Ghosts’ — NPR, All Things Considered
Steve Luxenberg’s quest — Michigan Public Radio
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on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, books, families, institutionalization, siblings.
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June 3rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Dear Patricia,
Thanks for featuring my book. My secret aunt, Annie, remained in the county mental hospital, known as Eloise, for 31 years. At the time of her admission, Michigan law essentially required that the state’s “defectives” be given treatment and care, and that led (as it did in many states) to larger and larger public hospitals and institutions. Annie’s time at Eloise spanned two eras in mental health treatment; by the time she died in 1972, the state had begun deinstitutionalization and the dismantling of the huge psychiatric hospitals that once dominated the system.
“Annie’s Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret” tells that story, as well as exploring my mom’s motivations for turning her sister into a secret and keeping that secret throughout her life. As much as I possibly can, using my skills that I learned in 30 years as a newspaper reporter and editor, I recreate my mom’s and Annie’s worlds. I also interview a variety of experts as a way of discussing how Annie’s life might been different if she were born in 1980 rather than in 1919.
Thanks again for bringing the book to the attention of your readers. If anyone would like to learn more about my book, please visit my website at steveluxenberg.com
Best,
Steve Luxenberg