Mother Had A Secret: Learning To Love My Mother & Her Multiple Personalities: A True Story (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I couldn't put this book down. It is a book that many need to read. It is about the author's life living with her mother who had Multiple Personalities. It is heartbreaking and uplifting. I say heart breaking because so often, we see others with physical disabilities and are so impressed with how they are able to over come them and live their lives to the best of their abilities. When it is a mental/emotion disability which is just as real and debilitating, society can be so cruel and judge mental and less forgiving. If this author's mother had a physical disability, because of society, others would have rallied around her and supported her. Because it was a mental disability, the family felt they had to hide it in shame. This is going on all around us and hopefully with books like these, more and more people will become aware and more supportive. First, I must say how eye opening this was to read about a daughter's perspective growing up with a mother who had 14 other people living inside her. She spoke a lot about the facades they tried to keep up and how few people really even cared to know what the real story of their family was. And she brought up complex and demanding moral problems that this kind of disease makes you face. And it was set in a suburban Utah town very much like the one I grew up in. It quickly became compelling in a very real way. Now let's get to the writing. This reads very much like a first book of someone who has an interesting story. And mostly, her prose is pretty good. There are parts that are powerful and inspired. But she has "poetry" as the climax of the book. While I recognize that the feelings she expresses through verse are deep and personal, as poetry it falls really flat with me. It's just verse, honey, not poetry. We cannot forget that we English speakers have exquisite poetry written by great hearts and great minds. And this kind of thing is just not it. I wouldn't have been so bothered by it if the rest of the book weren't good enough to set me up for something better.I finished this book admiring the author's courage in telling a very personal, very painful story. It was worth reading. But it could have been so much better. It almost was.
What do You think about Mother Had A Secret: Learning To Love My Mother & Her Multiple Personalities: A True Story (2010)?
I'd give it more if I could! There's really nothing to say other than it's amazing.
—sammn
Very interesting book. I enjoyed it a lot.
—sambarsky
Can't imagine living with this disorder.
—rachelmaysperry
