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Tilt: Every Family Spins on Its Own Axis
Elizabeth Burns crafts a stunning debut novel, filled with luminous, wryly humorous and wrenchingly honest prose. As a successful young urbanite, Bridget Fox experiences the typical joys and struggles of youthful New Yorkers, and she has happy expectations for her new family. But when her daughter Maeve is diagnosed with autism, Bridget’s life as she knew it and her idealistic images of the perfect family are shattered. She tries to lean on her husband, her father, her best friend, but none can help her reconstruct her world as other tragic challenges begin to surface. But as she tries to choose between insanity and oblivion, Bridget discovers that matters are not nearly so simple—or so hopeless—as she once believed. Elizabeth Burns weaves the beauty and imagery of her poetic voice into a story of pain, humor, struggle and ultimate redemption. Bravely intimate, astonishing in its honesty, Tilt walks a path that most "normal" novels fear to tread as it follows the journey of a woman desperate enough to fall—and strong enough to survive.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2003
5 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Burns
42 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Elizabeth Burns (b. 1957) is a Scottish poet. Having spent much of her life in Scotland, where she worked in bookselling and publishing, she moved to Lancaster where she taught creative writing.
Her first full length collection, Ophelia and other poems, was published in 1991, and was shortlisted for the Saltire Award for First Book of the Year. Her second collection, The Gift of Light, was published in 1999, followed by The Lantern Bearers in 2007. Held, her fourth full length collection was published in 2010.
In addition to full-length collections, Elizabeth produced a number of pamphlets including The Shortest Days, which won the 2009 Michael Marks Award. The Alteration was shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Poetry Pamphlet Award.
Her work has appeared in many anthologies of Scottish poetry, including Dreamstate: the new Scottish poets (Polygon, 1994; 2002), The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Scottish Poems (Faber, 2000), Modern Scottish Women Poets (Canongate, 2003), Scotlands: poet and nations (Carcanet, 2004), The Edinburgh Anthology of Twentieth-century Scottish Poetry (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 100 Favourite Scottish Poems (Luath, 2006).
She was an early member of Pomegranate Women Writers in Edinburgh and continued to be closely involved in a writing group in Lancaster.
Her love of pottery and identification with the craft led her to a number of collaborations with ceramicists and other makers. She also wrote about painters, including Gwen John, Winifred Nicholson, and Anne Redpath.
From her first book, Ophelia and other Poems, Elizabeth was a poet whose work was suffused with the colour and scent of ordinary lives. She was also a quietly fearless writer, never shying from the hurt done by one human to another. Her delicate and graceful poems have space in them for what has been lost or broken, for the flawed and crooked, as well as the sensuousness of the everyday, particularly in the lives of women which she celebrated in poem after poem.
Elizabeth Burns (b. 1957) is a Scottish poet. Having spent much of her life in Scotland, where she worked in bookselling and publishing, she moved to Lancaster where she taught creative writing.
Her first full length collection, Ophelia and other poems, was published in 1991, and was shortlisted for the Saltire Award for First Book of the Year. Her second collection, The Gift of Light, was published in 1999, followed by The Lantern Bearers in 2007. Held, her fourth full length collection was published in 2010.
In addition to full-length collections, Elizabeth produced a number of pamphlets including The Shortest Days, which won the 2009 Michael Marks Award. The Alteration was shortlisted for the Callum Macdonald Poetry Pamphlet Award.
Her work has appeared in many anthologies of Scottish poetry, including Dreamstate: the new Scottish poets (Polygon, 1994; 2002), The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Scottish Poems (Faber, 2000), Modern Scottish Women Poets (Canongate, 2003), Scotlands: poet and nations (Carcanet, 2004), The Edinburgh Anthology of Twentieth-century Scottish Poetry (Edinburgh University Press, 2005), 100 Favourite Scottish Poems (Luath, 2006).
She was an early member of Pomegranate Women Writers in Edinburgh and continued to be closely involved in a writing group in Lancaster.
Her love of pottery and identification with the craft led her to a number of collaborations with ceramicists and other makers. She also wrote about painters, including Gwen John, Winifred Nicholson, and Anne Redpath.
From her first book, Ophelia and other Poems, Elizabeth was a poet whose work was suffused with the colour and scent of ordinary lives. She was also a quietly fearless writer, never shying from the hurt done by one human to another. Her delicate and graceful poems have space in them for what has been lost or broken, for the flawed and crooked, as well as the sensuousness of the everyday, particularly in the lives of women which she celebrated in poem after poem.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
October 17, 2017
What a beautiful devastating book. I think I first heard about this book in another book called far from the tree by Andrew Solomon which is one of my favourite 6 star books. A 700 ish page study of children born with various of abnormalities. He references a scene from this book where the mother is dealing with an autistic child who has poohed herself in the bathroom and is basically playing around with lots of faeces in the water and how she had to deal with her. She wasn’t a baby but around 8/9 I think at that time the little girl had that episode. He mother who the story pivots around has a younger child of around 2 and a very talented sculptor husband who is internationally renowned but unfortunately he also has a catastrophic breakdown due to some kind of psychosis and is rendered invalid. So the mum is dealing with a suicidal / very ill husband, an autistic child and a 2 year old kid. This book moved me and brought me onto the verge of tears in so many occasions. If you think your life is tough you should read this book and it will give you some succour. The strength of the mother is incredible and quite literally awe-inspiring. The way the mother comes to slowly realise that her child is not normal and her slow descent into the chthonic depths of a hell that only the parents of autistics or severely disabled children could possibly understand is bone chilling in places. Hugely recommended. Here were a few of my best bits:
• “She had a lot of morphine at the end. She was much like a baby, going back to heaven she was diapered and small and hairless. It was so easy to hold her.”
• “How dare they all remain the same when the world had tilted and we were all in danger of sliding off?”
• “Take for example the art of the Japanese woodwork maker. Do you think that Hisroshi Yoshida was aware of the time passing when he crouched above his block of wood in his tiny studio? He was not spending time, he was honouring the time allotted to him in the day by producing his art.”
• “She had a lot of morphine at the end. She was much like a baby, going back to heaven she was diapered and small and hairless. It was so easy to hold her.”
• “How dare they all remain the same when the world had tilted and we were all in danger of sliding off?”
• “Take for example the art of the Japanese woodwork maker. Do you think that Hisroshi Yoshida was aware of the time passing when he crouched above his block of wood in his tiny studio? He was not spending time, he was honouring the time allotted to him in the day by producing his art.”
January 20, 2014
If you've ever wondered about that Mom or Dad standing in line at the grocery store with you, the ones with the kiddos in a full meltdown, read this story. Take a trip inside a typical day, week, month, year, LIFE of a family in which only one parent is capable of holding everyone together, and her descent into mental illness and all that came after.
Honestly, I have to tell you that this book is so worth reading. It is a relatively short story but so incredibly real and true to life that it was difficult to just 'sit and read.' I had to put it down and walk away several times just because the emotion and intensity of the things taking place were overwhelming.
How lucky I am that this is 'just a book' and I can walk away...so many are living this life and walking away, is not an option.
Honestly, I have to tell you that this book is so worth reading. It is a relatively short story but so incredibly real and true to life that it was difficult to just 'sit and read.' I had to put it down and walk away several times just because the emotion and intensity of the things taking place were overwhelming.
How lucky I am that this is 'just a book' and I can walk away...so many are living this life and walking away, is not an option.
June 6, 2008
A very quick read -- if at times overwhelming and exhausting (the things the narrator has to deal with, not the prose!). I thought it was fairly daring to address, which such honesty, both autism and multiple mental health issues in one story. I have to say, though -- I really do not like discussion guides in the backs of books. Their observations are always insipid, at best. And their prompts for discussion, really just embarassing. Can't people just talk about what spoke to them, and what didn't? Just a personal rant!
April 9, 2021
Fast read,after a slow start.A very honest & open book re a child & family dealing with autism & a father with biPolar ..Heartbreaking !
August 2, 2012
Tilt was on the shelf of the bookcase in the Women's Room, and while women wrote, I scanned titles. It just looked interesting. A mild statement after finishing this amazing story. Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean, says it best, [Burns] hurls the reader with the force of gravity into Tile and never once lets go." It's about autism, but oh so much more.
June 8, 2016
Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending and the overall theme of the book; however, the first 75% of the book jumped around in time and made it hard to follow. Glad I read it, but wouldn't read it again.
June 22, 2008
woman is dealing with autistic child, then hubby diagnosed bipolar and she ends up in the looney bin. a little too much going on to be believable for me.
April 19, 2011
It was ok...nothing to love about it. About a mother coping with an autistic child and a bipolar husband among other things.
July 9, 2011
This is a very honestly written book by a mother of a child with severe autism. My mom worked with the family, and she's a character in the book!
January 9, 2015
This book was exhausting to read, but yet beautiful and real. Maybe I will say more later, but for now I just need to let it sink in for a bit...
March 6, 2023
Brilliant story teller! Terribly sad but I was cheering for the people. A story that needs telling...
Read
January 14, 2021my friend katy borrowed it to me. its about a lady who finds out her daughter has autism, and her husband is bipolar. made me cry a little. couple lines in the book really got me.
"most people don't have to face these decision and take care of the enormous responsibilities that you have. most people have to worry about what television show to watch. so don't be comparing yourself to what other people are doing or not doing. you're doing you, and you're doing it right."
"do you want to know what it feels lie to want to die every day? or am i too morbid for you? hell, i'm too morbid for me. but here i am; and here you are finding out about it. this is what it feels like when you want to die every day: it feels like slipping into a pair of shoes that are filled with mud that lead you to a track that makes you walk in a circle as if you were following a carrot on a stick, but whats the carrot and why do i feel that i am forever in a chenille robe that is fraying every single day while i shuffle around and around in the same old pit of yellowing newspapers, yellowing fingernails, yellowing window blinds, yellowing teeth decaying me. it it a sinking so slow that you want someone to come and push you all the way , let you glide down the hill 'til you're just gone. that's all. i just want to be completely gone."
describing being in a mental hospital: "we empty everything: our pockets, our purses, our suitcases, our souls, our stomachs, our words. empty empty empty. a hokey-pokey of the mind: shake it all abut, turn yourself around, thats what its all about."
"what i didn't know is that i would be skating and wobbling on ice every day. everything is slippery."
"most people don't have to face these decision and take care of the enormous responsibilities that you have. most people have to worry about what television show to watch. so don't be comparing yourself to what other people are doing or not doing. you're doing you, and you're doing it right."
"do you want to know what it feels lie to want to die every day? or am i too morbid for you? hell, i'm too morbid for me. but here i am; and here you are finding out about it. this is what it feels like when you want to die every day: it feels like slipping into a pair of shoes that are filled with mud that lead you to a track that makes you walk in a circle as if you were following a carrot on a stick, but whats the carrot and why do i feel that i am forever in a chenille robe that is fraying every single day while i shuffle around and around in the same old pit of yellowing newspapers, yellowing fingernails, yellowing window blinds, yellowing teeth decaying me. it it a sinking so slow that you want someone to come and push you all the way , let you glide down the hill 'til you're just gone. that's all. i just want to be completely gone."
describing being in a mental hospital: "we empty everything: our pockets, our purses, our suitcases, our souls, our stomachs, our words. empty empty empty. a hokey-pokey of the mind: shake it all abut, turn yourself around, thats what its all about."
"what i didn't know is that i would be skating and wobbling on ice every day. everything is slippery."
April 17, 2025
Tilt by Elizabeth Burns is about a woman dealing with her life unravelling as she deals with an autistic child while losing the people in her life that could have helped to support her.
Thoughts while reading:
-I heard about this book from “Far from the Tree” by Andrew Solomon, and the prose was evocative enough that I was interested in picking up this book. The author writes beautifully
-I like how there’s an emotional intensity to the writing. I could really feel how the narrator, Bridget, is affected by meeting Pierce
-Bridget seriously has messy relationships
-The author effectively conveys what it must be like to be drowning under the weight of all the things happening in Bridget’s life. I feel so sad that she feels like there’s no one there to help her, nothing that can save her
-I feel like the ending brings everything together, but the sense of loss is also profound
The writing is really beautiful, and I can see how the author is a poet. The subject matter is also interesting and the characters and their experiences feel very real. I would give this a 4 out of 5
Thoughts while reading:
-I heard about this book from “Far from the Tree” by Andrew Solomon, and the prose was evocative enough that I was interested in picking up this book. The author writes beautifully
-I like how there’s an emotional intensity to the writing. I could really feel how the narrator, Bridget, is affected by meeting Pierce
-Bridget seriously has messy relationships
-The author effectively conveys what it must be like to be drowning under the weight of all the things happening in Bridget’s life. I feel so sad that she feels like there’s no one there to help her, nothing that can save her
-I feel like the ending brings everything together, but the sense of loss is also profound
The writing is really beautiful, and I can see how the author is a poet. The subject matter is also interesting and the characters and their experiences feel very real. I would give this a 4 out of 5
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 31, 2021
A heart wrenching story of loss and the challenges of coping when life truly gives you more than you can handle. Bridget has flitted through a short marriage and bouncing between her divorced parents before she decides she needs a change and find herself tutoring a child in Portugal. There she meets Pierce and her life seems complete when they have a daughter. When her little family is uprooted to Minnesota, things quickly turn sideways as in short succession, Bridget has her second child, her cousin and father die, and her first child is diagnosed with autism. Her husband is also diagnosed with bipolar disorder when he becomes manic while at work. As Bridget tries to balance her husband's mental health, her daughter's increasingly unmanageable behavior, and providing a semblance of normalcy for her other child, she begins to lose herself in the struggle. A realistic accounting of the love and hardships of having a spouse with a mental health condition and a child with severe autism. Overall, 3.5 out of 5
May 16, 2021
heartbreaking, difficult read, my heart grew after reading this book
January 11, 2017
So heartbreaking.
November 26, 2013
The timeline of this book was everywhere. While some authors can transport the reader back and forth in time, this author failed! Example: friend died, but fifty pages later the protagonist is talking to the friend...wait I thought she died, did I miss something? Also: near one-hundred pages in the protagonist is talking to Hugo...who the heck is Hugo...I had to skim the beginning of the book because he was mentioned once. The story focuses on a chain smoking chimney, alcoholic, manic-depressive mother and doesn't go into much detail about the child with autism. This is not my style of a book (I normally read Sci-Fy and Fantasy) so I did not enjoy it, but I work with autistic children and this book was recommended to me. I was also reading three other books at the same time, so I was glad it was short, lacked details, and I got through it quick! Book takes place in MN but failed to capture the state. Why is there a lady wearing a GB Packer shirt here, I'm from WI and I hate that team (stop supporting teams that don't stop domestic abuse and let their players beat and rape women)! I guess it makes sense she was portrayed as b*tch, but then the protagonist stated "I wanted to be friends with her." Why she just yelled at you and your child! This book was a waste of time for me.
February 10, 2011
I picked this book at random from the library. I don't usually read such intense books because they make me upset. I can't imagine having to live a day in Bridget's shoes and it makes my stomach queasy and my heart hurt to even begin to understand what it would be like.
On a lighter note, I loved the Minnesota references. I absolutely loved this, "...but really I was just afraid of the highway again, the merge, when you might think someone is going to let you into the traffic lane but come on, why the hell would a stranger do that? Especially here [Minnesota] where supposedly everybody is nice. You wouldn't know that from the freeway." There is no Minnesota nice, just Minnesota passive-aggressive.
I loved the paragraph on page 17 about death. "People love to think 'it' couldn't happen to them, or they console you with, 'God must know you can take it. See, I could never withstand that kind of pain. God must think you are very, very strong.' People actually say that shit to me." Oh how I can relate! I couldn't stand the comments after my dad's death.
The author's humor really helped balance out the darkness of the story. But humor can only help so much, as Bridget discovered.
On a lighter note, I loved the Minnesota references. I absolutely loved this, "...but really I was just afraid of the highway again, the merge, when you might think someone is going to let you into the traffic lane but come on, why the hell would a stranger do that? Especially here [Minnesota] where supposedly everybody is nice. You wouldn't know that from the freeway." There is no Minnesota nice, just Minnesota passive-aggressive.
I loved the paragraph on page 17 about death. "People love to think 'it' couldn't happen to them, or they console you with, 'God must know you can take it. See, I could never withstand that kind of pain. God must think you are very, very strong.' People actually say that shit to me." Oh how I can relate! I couldn't stand the comments after my dad's death.
The author's humor really helped balance out the darkness of the story. But humor can only help so much, as Bridget discovered.
June 23, 2008
Having a child with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, reading this book left me with a lot of thoughts of "oh thank god, that wasn't me", as just as Bridget Foxx, the mother on one neurotypical child and one with Autism, it is so difficult to do it all and stay sane. And anyone would break under the kind of pressure she dealt with, and I was so grateful that my load was never like hers. Having said that, this was an excellent book. Well written, easy to read, despite the heavy topic. You want Bridget to succeed. To get some help. You cheer when she does. Of course there is some form of "happily ever after", but it is not that Maeve, the daughter with Autism is magically cured and thus, it remains somewhat realistic and believable. A good read and educational about Autism and the effects this kind of illness, as well as bipolar and depression, can have on a family unit.
June 14, 2008
Favorite Quotes:
More wishing things were other than they are: That I could hush myself into a stream.
And one book that I love says that we create hell by wishing that things were other than they were.
Does God get mad? Really mad? Because if so, then I can start to believe in God again. But if God is complacent, then I am mad as hell.
Maybe if you knew how much something was going to hurt, it wouldn't count as pain. If you knew how long you'd feel the ripping, the long, long tearing, it would just be a quota of endurance that you'd have to muster. But this way, the pain gets to claim time as well as space and touch. Pain becomes the haunt because it steps through the restriction of designated hours. It fines you as if you were renting it, but pain is renting you up, using you out. I need a replacement, a new rug, an overhaul.
More wishing things were other than they are: That I could hush myself into a stream.
And one book that I love says that we create hell by wishing that things were other than they were.
Does God get mad? Really mad? Because if so, then I can start to believe in God again. But if God is complacent, then I am mad as hell.
Maybe if you knew how much something was going to hurt, it wouldn't count as pain. If you knew how long you'd feel the ripping, the long, long tearing, it would just be a quota of endurance that you'd have to muster. But this way, the pain gets to claim time as well as space and touch. Pain becomes the haunt because it steps through the restriction of designated hours. It fines you as if you were renting it, but pain is renting you up, using you out. I need a replacement, a new rug, an overhaul.
January 10, 2013
This novel was nowhere close to a feel good read. I had to make sure I was in no good mood while reading it. Even if I was the author wouldn't let me keep it.
The story is pretty basic in subject matter. It follows a mother named Bridget through her difficult family circumstances. Primarily, Bridget's eldest daughter Maeve is the major factor in her life.
Bridget's husband is an manic depressive artist that is in and out of the mental hospital and Maeve is autistic and at times violent.
The novel deals with Bridget's reactions to all this and ends in a way I am still not sure about on a personal level. But then again, I've never been through and a similar situation and if I ever do I would have to evaluate it all for myself.
The story is pretty basic in subject matter. It follows a mother named Bridget through her difficult family circumstances. Primarily, Bridget's eldest daughter Maeve is the major factor in her life.
Bridget's husband is an manic depressive artist that is in and out of the mental hospital and Maeve is autistic and at times violent.
The novel deals with Bridget's reactions to all this and ends in a way I am still not sure about on a personal level. But then again, I've never been through and a similar situation and if I ever do I would have to evaluate it all for myself.
August 10, 2016
this is a book i just grabbed off the shelf in the library...knowing nothing about it whatsoever...and it has touched my soul. a lovely, sorrowful, tale of a wife and mother dealing with more than any one person can with the mental illness of her husband, and the autism found in her daughter. it sounds overwhelming, which it is, but the author writes in such an honest and open way that you can't put the book down and cry when you reach the end. i will remember this book, found accidentally on a random shelf...
April 20, 2008
Another amazing local author. Even though I hate Lifetime movies and this is slated to be one...I think this will touch the hearts of anyone who has known a kid like this. The decisions made in this book would tear anyones heart apart! What an amazing woman! What is love? When do you let go? Or should you?
July 29, 2008
This book was about a woman with an autistic daughter and a manic depressive husband. Ouch.
It's an interesting point of view - written in stream of consciousness style - and I found myself tearing up at more than a few parts. But it left me a little cold, probably because I couldn't really relate. I don't have any children, let alone an autistic child.
It's an interesting point of view - written in stream of consciousness style - and I found myself tearing up at more than a few parts. But it left me a little cold, probably because I couldn't really relate. I don't have any children, let alone an autistic child.
October 12, 2008
Definitely a good read, especially if you're interested in psychological novels. Written by the mother's point of view, Husband is an artist who has emotional problems and together they have two daughters, the elder who is autistic. I highly recommend it. Having known families like this, I actually found a large part of it believable.
August 10, 2016
I don't think i've ever cried more while reading a book, not during the Red Tent, not even while listening to Angela's Ashes on audio--while driving no less... This is an amazingly touching and well-written book by an award winning poet. It was just really, really difficult to read without taking breaks for weeping. (Luckily i finished it in a day.)
August 27, 2012
The main character deals with autism, mental illness, death simultaneously. Not exactly an uplifting read! But several moments when I couldn't put it down and was glad I invested time in it. Somewhat an autobiographical book for the author. One of those books that reminds you how life could ALWAYS be worse!
January 7, 2013
From my 2010 journal: I just finished that Tilt book, by Elizabeth Burns. It's about a family coming to realize that their oldest daughter is autistic and it was just really, really intense - and written in a first person narrative that felt like a conversation. Very intimate and it had me crying a lot, probably because I'm a mom now or something.
July 21, 2008
“Wow. Heart-breaking and funny and real. The characters seemed so real to me. It is about autism and mental illness and motherhood and love and survival. It's about having to make impossibly hard choices and never really knowing if they were the "right" choices or not.
September 28, 2009
This is a book that gives a true glimpse into the life of a family with a child with a Pervasive Developmental Disorder. I think it is a great eye opener and truly helped me in working with families' with children with disabilities.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews