Making an Exit: A Mother-Daughter Drama with Alzheimer's, Machine Tools, and Laughter

Making an Exit: A Mother-Daughter Drama with Alzheimer's, Machine Tools, and Laughter by Fuchs, Elinor. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780805080070.

Written with "humanity, compassion, and dignity," an unexpected love story of a career-driven mother, a once-resentful daughter, and a ten-year battle with Alzheimers (Los Angeles Times) At a time when such things were rare, Elinor Fuchss mother, Lil, escaped a miserable marriage and left young Elinor to be raised by grandparents as she traveled the world selling automotive parts and military gear. With her stunning looks and ambition, Lil was less a mother to love than a figure to admire--and, once in college, Elinor determined to keep her distance. Making an Exit is the moving account of what happens afterward, following Lils diagnosis with Alzheimers. As the disease progresses, both women are transformed: Elinor, with growing compassion, becomes her mothers mother; Lil, regularly speaking of "love," connects with her daughter as never before through the poetry of her disintegrating language. With wit, wisdom, and theatrical flair, Making an Exit tells an uncommon story of a parents decline--and a rekindled relationship. "The last ten years," writes Fuchs, "they were our best." "How these women touched me! Driven and real, Making an Exit hurtles toward its truths with uncommon feeling and honesty." --Gish Jen, author of The Love Wife "Tremendous . . . brilliant . . . filled with unexpected glimmers of hope, wisdom, and joy." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution