Death in Slow Motion: My Mother's Descent into Alzheimer's

Death in Slow Motion: My Mother's Descent into Alzheimer's

By: Eleanor Cooney  

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Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

Azheimer's is death in slow motion," says Eleanor Cooney in this jarring and unsentimental memoir about caring for her mother, "and it has the ability to kill love while the person you love still breathes."

When it was all but certain that her once-glamorous and witty novelist-mother had Alzheimer's, Cooney moved her from her beloved Connecticut home to California in order to care for her. In tense, searing prose, punctuated with the blackest of humor, Cooney documents the slow erosion of her mother's mind, of the powerful bond the two shared, and her own descent into drink and despair.

"She was always my favorite person," says Eleanor, "hip, cool, brilliant, funny, sane -- my ultimate confidante and sympathizer." Now, overwhelmed by the Chinese water torture of endless small worries, endlessly repeated, that dementia thrusts on victim and caregiver, Cooney resorts to booze, tranquilizers, and gallows wit to blunt the edges of the relentless loss and the demands of ministering to this devastating disease.

But the coping mechanism that finally serves this eloquent writer best is writing, the ability to bring to vivid life the memories her mother is losing. As her mother gropes in the gathering darkness for a grip on the world she once loved, succeeding only in conjuring sad fantasies of places and times with her dead husband, Cooney revisits their true past. Death in Slow Motion becomes the mesmerizing story of Eleanor's actual childhood, straight out of the pages of John Cheever; the daring and vibrant mother she remembers; and a time that no longer exists for either of them.

Deeply moving, shockingly honest, and framed by wounded love, Cooney's tale reveals in remorseless prose the true nature of the beast called Alzheimer's, and with it, the arcane processes of the writer's craft and of a splendid mind's disintegration. "Alzheimer's," Cooney writes, "you'll never be the same once it's paid you a visit."

Publisher: HarperCollins

Release Date: 2003-01-21

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
death in slow motion - While I have never directly gone through caring for a patient with alzheimer's disease, as a nurse I have cared for many such patients and had contact with their families. This account by the daughter of writer Mary Durant strips bare not only what the disease can do to a vibrant, intelligent person, but the effect it has on the psche of all family involved in the care of the alzheimer's victim. The journey begins with selfless determination and bravery, and soon has the caregivers directly involved reduced in a crazy-making world of desperation and guilt.
While this book can be devastating in its honesty it is not without humor, and the writing is nothing short of wondrous. Very few books have me reduced to tears at last turning of the page; this one did. These people will live on in your heart long after reading Death in Slow Motion.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Through a glass, darkly . . . - but unlike the passage from 1 Corinthians, Eleanor Cooney's perception and view of Alzheimer's disease is clear, unmuddied and unlike any that I've ever read. As the disease clouds the memory and behavior of her mother, the range of emotions that I felt as a reader and witness were sometimes too much to bear.

This is a book that I first read when a condensed version appeared in a Harper's magazine article in 2001. I purchased the book shortly thereafter since my own mother had been diagnosed with the disease a year earlier at the age of 58.

I still pick up Death, in Slow Motion every few weeks. I can't tell you what a comfort it has been to me as I journey through the dark and twisted tunnel of care for my own mother. Although our circumstances are different, and the case of every Alzheimer's patient is truly unique, I felt and still feel as if I have met someone who is willing to hold up that mirror and tell me what I am in store for - but in a comforting, compassionate and very honest manner.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Death in Slow Motion: A Memoir of a Daughter, Her Mother, and the Beast Called Alzheimer's - Eleanor Cooney has written the most eye-opening and honest account of Alzheimer's that I have ever read! I was a caretaker to my Mother who also had Alzheimer's and much of this mirrored our experience. It felt like someone was finally telling my story: I'm broke, I'm exhausted, I can't take it, I'm abusing substances, I love her, I sometimes wish she'd die, I miss her....I hate myself!

I don't always find authors or experts that have her down to earth way of relaying the real nitty-gritty experience of caring for someone with Alzheimer's. She's an intellegent, strong woman who jumped head-first into the role of caretaker of her Mother, Mary who was beginning the long decline of Alzheimer's. This is a task many children take on and barely survive. Eleanor Cooney is definately a survivor and a brilliant, funny, brutally honest author.

But Eleanor Cooney is also a wonderful storyteller. I feel like I have been in these Connecticut neighborhoods and homes, and have met this cast of characters that tell the exciting story of Mary Durant's life. I especially feel like I've met someone special, Mary. It's hard to remember the person that's inside that Alzheimer's shell. Eleanor has done her Mother proud and left a loving memory of a very beautiful, creative and unusual person.

As the author remarks of Alzheimer's: "you will never be the same once it's paid you a visit." I have not been the same since I've read this book! Do yourself a favor and take this journey!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Powerful! - I bought this book because I had to for a Psycology class report. I read this in 1 day and was pulled in by the true, raw emotion described in this real story about the author and her mother. It is the kind of book you want to read about a subject you want to look away from. I recommend this for anyone who has a loved one suffering with Alzheimers, in the medical feild, or just someone who wants a gripping, powerful read.

p.s. I bought this book used.....wonderful condition...used is the way to go for any college student! low $$$$

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Death in Slow Motion - This superbly interesting book reads like a story. She has done something major for anyone taking care of a person with Alzheimer's Disease. Her amazing honesty is like a breath of fresh air, and the book helped me more than any other book or support group.

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