Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing

Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing

â€œIâ€™m reading this book right now and loving it!â€â€”Cheryl Strayed, #1Â New York TimesÂ bestselling author ofÂ Wild

How can a mother and daughter who love (but donâ€™t always like) each other coexist without driving each other crazy?Â

â€œA wry and moving meditation on aging and the different kinds of love between women.â€â€”O: The Oprah MagazineÂ (â€œ2019â€™s Best LGBTQ Booksâ€)

After surviving a traumatic childhood in nineteen-seventies New York and young adulthood living in the shadow of her flamboyant mother, Rita, a makeup-addicted former television singer, Elissa Altman has managed to build a very different life, settling in Connecticut with her wife of nearly twenty years. After much time, therapy, and wine, Elissa is at last in a healthy place, still orbiting around her mother but keeping far enough away to preserve the stable, independent world she has built as a writer and editor. Then Elissa is confronted with the unthinkable: Rita, whose days are spent as a flÃ¢neur, traversing Manhattan from the Clinique counters at Bergdorf to Bloomingdaleâ€™s and back again, suffers an incapacitating fall, leaving her completely dependent upon her daughter.

Now Elissa is forced to finally confront their profound differences, Ritaâ€™s yearning for beauty and glamour, her view of the world through her days in the spotlight, and the money that has mysteriously disappeared in the name of preserving youth. To sustain their fragile mother-daughter bond, Elissa must navigate the turbulent waters of their shared lives, the practical challenges of caregiving for someone who refuses to accept it, the tentacles of narcissism, and the mutual, frenetic obsession that has defined their relationship.

Motherland is a story that touches every home and every life, mapping the ferocity of maternal love, moral obligation, the choices women make about motherhood, and the possibility of healing. Filled with tenderness, wry irreverence, and unforgettable characters, it is an exploration of what it means to escape from the shackles of the past only to have to face them all over again.

Praise for Motherland

â€œRarely has a mother-daughter relationship been excavated with such honesty. Elissa Altman is a beautiful, big-hearted writer who mines her most central subject: her gorgeous, tempestuous, difficult mother, and the terrain of their shared life. The result is a testament to the power of love and family.â€â€”Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance

â€œElissa Altmanâ€™sÂ MotherlandÂ traces the history of a particularly complicated relationship. Wise, evocative, and rich in insight, this compassionate and beautiful memoir is ultimately an act of love.â€â€”Claire Messud, author ofÂ The Burning Girl
Country USA
Manufacturer Ballantine Books
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2019-08-06
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Ballantine Books
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2019-08-06
Format	Kindle eBook

Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing

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