Losing a Life - by Nancy Gerber (Paperback)

About the Book

In this thought-provoking memoir, Nancy Gerber maps the wrenching terrain of caring for an elderly parent. In the fall of 1995, at the age of 73, the author's father suffered a massive stroke on the right side of the brain, rendering him permanently disabled. This catastrophic...

Book Synopsis

In this thought-provoking memoir, Nancy Gerber maps the wrenching terrain of caring for an elderly parent. In the fall of 1995, at the age of 73, the author's father suffered a massive stroke on the right side of the brain, rendering him permanently disabled. This catastrophic event plunged the author and her family into a crisis for which they were completely unprepared, one that included financial worries; the need to hire full-time, live-in help; and the specter of putting her father into a nursing home.

Review Quotes

As her book shows through wrenching examples, care for her father is necessay, required, and urgent, but women are not always in a position to give it freely.

At a mere 81 pages, this book merits consideration in a wide array of disciplines as an ancillary text... here is a small memoir crafted not by a scholar of aging or an everyday caregiver but by a professor with an English degree, someone who can turn mere words into powerful swords, conveying deep meanings. It can be recommended as a resource for caregivers, caregiving support groups, and families of stroke survivors...

The everydayness of the experience of Gerber's...work offers some of the most fertile ground for feminist analysis within and outside of women's studies courses. [It offers]...a rich and meaningful way to analyze rigorously the role of dutiful daughter, the evolution of the U.S. health care system, and the complexity of family dynamics.

About the Author

Nancy Gerber holds a doctorate in Literatures in English from Rutgers University. The author of Portrait of the Mother-Artist: Class and Creativity in Contemporary American Fiction (Lexington Books, 2003), she has taught in the English and Women's Studies departments at Rutgers University, Newark. She lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her family and can be reached at n.gerber@att.net or through her web site, www.nancygerber.net .