Book Description

Do we ever really know who our parents are?

When Hillary Johnson learned that her mother had terminal cancer, she left New York City and returned to Minneapolis to care for her mother in her final years.While coping with the practical and emotional difficulties such a situation would cause any daughter, she slowly discovered what she had failed to see in the two decades since she'd left home for college and later career: her mother's identity as a woman, independent of the role of mother or wife.

In vivid snapshots of memory Johnson recalls her intense and sometimes troubled relationship with her irrepressible parent, Ruth Jones, who married at eighteen, had two young children by the time she was twenty-one and a few years later moved to Paris with her young children in search of a more fulfilling life."Gone to Paris, took the kids," read the note she left her husband.

MY MOHER DYING is a beautifully written and emotionally compelling account of how two woman get to look beyond the role of mother and daughter and see two complex individuals who are given a final chance to truly know one another under the pressure of impending death. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Most poignant memoir of a mother/daughter relationship
I feel I cannot do justice writing a review on such a high caliber memoir. Emotions run so deep and the characters are made so lifelike that I felt such a kinship with this family. Hillary Johnson is a fantastic writer and a fabulous daughter and caretaker. She deserves five gold stars for the wonderful job she did taking care of her mother through such dramatic medical horrors. I am honored and enriched for having read her book. Her mother was the bravest of women who faced life and illness with the best attitude possible. Her book will be the biggest help to me as my mother's health continues to decline. Thank you to both of you, Hillary and Ruth. Your mother was absolutely right to encourage the writing of this painful, truthful account of her living and dying. I am ordering it now for my sisters.

Eloquent and Fine
This "shared memoir" is a gem in every way: from the author's eloquent writing style to her mother's whimsical yet provocative drawings and even the smooth surfaces of the pages. Like the physical feel of the pages and the colors in her mother's artwork, the authors' words are finely wrought and rich. I didn't want to put the book down.

Wonderful book!
This book is a entrancing autobiography and biography of a woman and her mother and in particular the story of a rekindeling of their connection as adults when the mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unlike the suggestion of the title this is not a depressing story, it is strongly life affirming, funny and an interesting look at two remarkable women. It has helped me greatly in dealing with my own mother's death from cancer. I recomend it highly!

A daughter's memoir, with her mother's letters and art
I have just finished reading MY MOTHER DYING by Hillary Johnson, art by Ruth Jones, the mother Johnson nursed during her final illness. This is a beautiful memoir to the complex relationship of mothers and daughters, a memoir addressing those who have cared for and wathced a loved one die, a memoir about the coming of age of a woman who became a wife and mother at a very young age in the fifties. Ms. Johnson has captured the magnificence and complexity of the mother-daughter relationship, an artist's struggle to express herself, a family member dealing with the myriad of problems that are present in watching a loved one pass on. The author's prose is glorious, and she uses many notes her mother wrote to her after she was rendered mute fom throat cancer surgery. Johnson has preserved the many legal pads filled by her Mother after her surgery, and uses them in her book to give a voice to Ruth for all, and a voice from Ruth to her daughter. The bonus for readers is the reproduction of Ruth Jones' art, whimsical and telling of her life, and the insight it gave her daughter into her mother's own self expression. ... Read more