Recommended Reading: The Last of His Mind

If a memoir about caregiving that reads like a gorgeous novel appeals to you, then pick up The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s. John Thorndike sketches a story that is both raw and delicately beautiful. Every sentence is carefully chosen, elegantly worded and bursting with real emotion, making this memoir of caregiving stand out in a sea of others.

With the eye of a novelist, Thorndike puts the entire experience of caring for his ailing father on the page—the regrets, wishes and all the fears. Thorndike seems almost eager to hash out the hard daily details, to say what is taboo: “At what point will he be so unhappy and his pleasures so few—and my own patience so thin—that I’ll hope for him to die?” Thorndike throws the door wide open so we can see the chaos, heartbreak and joy that lies inside. He invites us in when he gets restless and frustrated, when he complains, when he has his darkest thoughts: “No no, he has to die so I can have my life back.” And he lets us stay long enough to see why he’s doing it in the first place: “…so far it’s been no different from raising my son: the more I take care of him, the more I love him.”

At the same time, he skillfully resists the urge to pull more meaning out of the experience than is there. When someone asks him if the experience of caring for his father is rewarding, Thorndike says, “Rewarding sounds pale and formal, because I’m far more engaged than that with my dad. I struggle when he does, I’m lifted up when he takes pleasure in something, and miserable when his day falls apart.”

The story unfolds slowly, but the reader is never left bored. Thorndike delves into the subject in a way that is bound to ring true to anyone who’s been a caregiver. In The Last of His Mind, Thorndike has created a memoir that reads like an intimate conversation and a crafted piece of fiction all in one.

The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer's
by John Thorndike
256 pp. Swallow Press