Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing

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I m reading this book right now and loving it Cheryl Strayed, 1 New York Times bestselling author of WildHow can a mother and daughter who love but don t always like each other coexist without driving each other crazy A wry and moving meditation on aging and the different kinds of love between women O The Oprah Magazine2019 s Best LGBTQ Books 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 fl neur, traversing Manhattan from the Clinique counters at Bergdorf to Bloomingdale 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, Rita 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 Rarely 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 Dani Shapiro, author of InheritanceVibrating with emotion, this deeply honest account strikes a chord People Free Download Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing By Elissa Altman For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr Elissa Altman is the rare writer who seems to produce a gem with every sentence Her prose is pitch perfect and her eye for the telling detail is keen Though her relationship with her narcissistic mother is difficult, and she s often on the receiving end of small, if not always inten...Can opposites attract Can a narcissistic mother truly love Can the narc daughter every truly be herself under the confines of this unsteady, turbulent, egotistical relationship Can you truly have a maternal bond when the maternal aspect is missing Having a mother of the same magnitude I can tell you the answer is NO Narc mothers only truly love one person themselves.In fact both my narc parents are elderly and in need of assistance and as the days get longer it sandexhausting to pa Can opposites attract Can a narcissistic mother truly love Can the narc daughter every truly be herself under the confines of this unsteady, turbulent, egotistical relationship Can you truly have a maternal bond when the maternal aspect is missing Having a mother of th...This memoir lays bare Elissa Altman s troubled relationship with her mother I am from the upbringing that dictates no one bad mouths my mother but me , So you can listen to me complain about my mother as long as I want to rant, but you had better not chip in, because that s my mother So, I find it difficult here to say anything about Altman s mother, but I don t have to, because I am the gentle listener to her incredibly well writ...Motherland is farthan just the memoir of a mother daughter relationship Elissa Altman s complex story and oft times obsessive connection to a sometimes demonic narcissist of a mother is both an addiction in its own right and a compulsively seductive story of passionate love, concealed rage, di...Elissa Altman tells the astonishing and poignant story of her troubled relationship with a narcissistic mother It s beautifully written alternately funny and tragic I loved it.Note Thank you to NetGalley, from whom I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.Elissa Altman is a wonderful writer in the sense that with her words he enables the reader to fully picture the scenes, the people, the places about which she writes In this case, I do feel like I know Elissa s parents, step parents, Gaga grandmother I feel like I can picture both her mother s NYC apartment and...I was provided with an advanced e book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review Give me your shorts The pleated ones You hate pleats GIVE ME YOUR SHORTS OR I WILL KILL MYSELF I felt badly about giving MOTHERLAND 2.5 stars Clearly, Elissa Altman s story was a difficult one to tell, but the way she wrote it undercut her sad and dramatic story Altman s story is about her mother and her obsession with her own beauty Beginning at a young age, Elissa was molded into the mirror ima I was provided with an advanced e book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review Give me your shorts The pleated ones You hate pleats GIVE ME YOUR SHORTS OR I WILL KILL MYSELF I felt badly about giving MOTHERLAND 2.5 stars Clearly, Elissa Altman s story was a difficult one to tell, but the way she wrote it undercut her sad and dramatic story Altman s story is about her mother and her obsession with her own beauty Beginning at a young age, Elissa was molded into the mirror image of her mother by her mother Although she preferred pants and T shirts, her mother would force her into ...After hearing Elissa Altman being interviewed by Zibby Owens for her podcast Mom s Don t Have Time to Read Books I highly recommend it if you like books , I was compelled to read Motherland to find outabout this fascinating author.In this honest, poetic memoir, Altman catalogues her dysfunctional relationship with her mother, who was semi famous earlier in her life Singing on TV shows and in popular New York City clubs, Rita made it clear to her daughter throughout her life that appearan After hearing Elissa Altman being interviewed by Zibby Owens for her podcast Mom s Don t Have Time to Read Books I highly recommend it...I was interested to read this book after hearing Altman speak about it on a podcast What really piqued my curiosity was her description of her mother as a narcissist, but one who loved her.Having a mother with similar issues, my experience has been that you can never make them happy, nothing is ever enough, and they aren t really capable of genuine love or care, so I wondered what made Altman think this.She s certainly a good writer, but I f...I won this as a free giveaway in exchange for an honest review through good reads, compliments of the publisher This was my first read from Elissa Altman and it surely will not be my last The quality of her writing is astounding I was initially outraged and furious while reading, but quickly realized that in actuality, this books is heartbreakin...

Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing
  • 23 October 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 272 pages
  • 039918158X
  • Elissa Altman
  • Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing