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Open Every Window: A Memoir
When Jane Munro’s husband is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the Griffin-award-winning poet must chart a path through the depths of grief, learning to live with loss and to take solace and find freedom in the restorative powers of writing.
Open Every Window is a genre-bending prose account of the unravelling of a life—two lives—when Jane Munro’s husband, Bob, is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Evoking Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, this memoir charts a path through sorrow—the pain of seeing a partner age and approach death, the exhaustion of caretaking, and the regret in seeing life’s scope narrow and diminish.
Writing with courage and love, Munro grapples with what it means to care for a husband who is gradually but devastatingly deteriorating while her own identity is eclipsed by a single word—caregiver. Even a doctor admonishes, “What job could be more important than caring for your husband?”
In this portrait of the myriad lives contained in a single life, Munro ultimately finds respite in the power of writing, Iyengar yoga and in the rhythms of the moon—not to heal but to face grief without breaking.
A poignant evocation for anyone who has experienced loss, Open Every Window reveals the pain and power inherent in loving and being loved. Framed with short observations of the moon—from a New Moon in Pune, India to the following New Moon in Vancouver, Canada—this memoir will entrance with its lyricism and comfort with the writer’s hard-won warmth and wisdom.
Open Every Window is a genre-bending prose account of the unravelling of a life—two lives—when Jane Munro’s husband, Bob, is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Evoking Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking, this memoir charts a path through sorrow—the pain of seeing a partner age and approach death, the exhaustion of caretaking, and the regret in seeing life’s scope narrow and diminish.
Writing with courage and love, Munro grapples with what it means to care for a husband who is gradually but devastatingly deteriorating while her own identity is eclipsed by a single word—caregiver. Even a doctor admonishes, “What job could be more important than caring for your husband?”
In this portrait of the myriad lives contained in a single life, Munro ultimately finds respite in the power of writing, Iyengar yoga and in the rhythms of the moon—not to heal but to face grief without breaking.
A poignant evocation for anyone who has experienced loss, Open Every Window reveals the pain and power inherent in loving and being loved. Framed with short observations of the moon—from a New Moon in Pune, India to the following New Moon in Vancouver, Canada—this memoir will entrance with its lyricism and comfort with the writer’s hard-won warmth and wisdom.
- GenresNonfiction
242 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 20, 2021
18 people want to read
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August 27, 2022OPEN EVERY WINDOW is a book that will definitely ring true for anyone who has ever dealt with a family member suffering from Alzheimer’s. Having had a mother who slowly succumbed to the insidious disease, and saw what was once a vibrant personality turning into a shell of her former self, it makes OPEN EVERY WINDOW all the more realistic and personal.
Jane Munro is a noted writer and poet, who offers her most compelling book. She tells in detail the diagnosis of her husband Bob, and the manner in which be began losing parts of himself through confusion and short term memory. It is never easy seeing someone we have come to love so much, become almost a stranger at times, and it does test ones patience and compassion constantly. Munro discusses the anger part as well of Alzheimer’s, when confusion is imminent and her husband often thought he was abandoning her. One can feel the sorrow in her words, as she recounts the life she saw slipping away with the progression of the disease. She did her best to take care of him, but knew it was not possible to be the only caregiver in his life.
She also mentions in details a most interesting aspect of Bob’s life when her had an ulcerated leg. I have read about ancient times, using insects to treat wounds and disease, but doctor’s modern day used maggots to deal with Bob's ulceration, and help repair it. Yes, live maggots, made for a most interesting image, though of course that is far from the emphasis of the book.
Munro did have a life of her own, and a commitment to being a student of Iyengar yoga. It was an important part of her life, a welcome diversion when dealing with Bob’s progressing Alzheimer’s. She took classes with Geeta Iyengar, and found that yoga helped her deal with her husband, as it provided an outlet for her sorrows, focusing on life events as much as what she faced with Bob. Phases of the moon are also noted in detail in the book, an important part of her life and her spirituality.
The book is a look at her moments with Bob, as life wound down, her commitment to him, and a commitment to remain positive and focused in the midst of such sorrow.
Jane Munro is a noted writer and poet, who offers her most compelling book. She tells in detail the diagnosis of her husband Bob, and the manner in which be began losing parts of himself through confusion and short term memory. It is never easy seeing someone we have come to love so much, become almost a stranger at times, and it does test ones patience and compassion constantly. Munro discusses the anger part as well of Alzheimer’s, when confusion is imminent and her husband often thought he was abandoning her. One can feel the sorrow in her words, as she recounts the life she saw slipping away with the progression of the disease. She did her best to take care of him, but knew it was not possible to be the only caregiver in his life.
She also mentions in details a most interesting aspect of Bob’s life when her had an ulcerated leg. I have read about ancient times, using insects to treat wounds and disease, but doctor’s modern day used maggots to deal with Bob's ulceration, and help repair it. Yes, live maggots, made for a most interesting image, though of course that is far from the emphasis of the book.
Munro did have a life of her own, and a commitment to being a student of Iyengar yoga. It was an important part of her life, a welcome diversion when dealing with Bob’s progressing Alzheimer’s. She took classes with Geeta Iyengar, and found that yoga helped her deal with her husband, as it provided an outlet for her sorrows, focusing on life events as much as what she faced with Bob. Phases of the moon are also noted in detail in the book, an important part of her life and her spirituality.
The book is a look at her moments with Bob, as life wound down, her commitment to him, and a commitment to remain positive and focused in the midst of such sorrow.
February 9, 2022
A truly heartbreaking story. Munro documents her husband’s deterioration with Alzheimer’s and all the associated difficulties. She also reveals her own life story.
Alzheimer’s is so vicious and unrelenting. It can strike anyone and robs them of everything.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the advance copy.
Alzheimer’s is so vicious and unrelenting. It can strike anyone and robs them of everything.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the advance copy.
March 30, 2023
I appreciated Jane’s writing about her marriage to an older man (being with an older man myself), and would have liked reading more about her experiences as a poet and perhaps less about her yoga retreats, although they’ve clearly been an important part of her life.
July 28, 2022
I loved this book: I felt taken in the intimacy of a house, of a life.
2024-books
January 21, 2024It was really good. A series of high and low emotions.
February 14, 2024
2 1/2 star
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews