A Good Distance

by Sarah Willis

Pushcart Prize nominee-author of Some Things That Stay , a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Book-of-the-Month Club's Stephen Crane Award. Everyone thinks Jennifer's mother belongs in a home. But Jennifer has walked away from her mother too many times already, and this is one duty she intends to fulfill. Taking a leave of absence, she invites Rose to live with her family. This is a story of the malleability of memory, of women traveling and trapped, and of mothers and daughters trying their best to negotiate the distance between freedom and love. Available only in Core 6 & 7.

Genres: Fiction

424 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 2004

Reviews

[John Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read and enjoyed Sarah Willis's other books, but I didn't rush to read this one because I wrongly assumed it would be more depressing than interesting and more predictable than exciting. Well, it didn't take many pages before I realized my assumptions were totally wrong; the story surprised me, and I loved every chapter.

Similar to her other books, the writing is exceptional. The characters feel so real, and the insights into human behavior and moment-to-moment ambivalence are so perfect (so naked and honest) that you'd swear she must be talking about real people (and that she must have possessed their bodies long enough to know their every thought and to have felt their every emotion).

I eagerly await her next book.

[Judy K. Swisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy books written from different perspectives. The reader sees how memories can be molded to fit the needs of the person doing the remembering. When Alzheimer's plays a role in those memories, there is added even another layer.

Jennifer's mother, Rose, comes to live with Jennifer, her daughter and Jennifer's husband of 3 years. Jennifer has been a disappointment to Rose and wants to make amends, seek and give forgiveness. The toll it takes on her marriage and the impact Rose's presence has on her own daughter, and how Jennifer views her responsibility as a mother is another interesting part of the story.

The book is told from first person, when Jennifer is narrating, and third person when told from Rose's perspective. We also get a piece of Rose's childhood and learn she faced similar problems as Jennifer when she was young and we know Rose when she was newly married, having babies and, later, widowed young with three young children and starting to date again.

The author brilliantly works memories into Rose's Alzheimer's-suffering mind that the reader soons learns will be addressed in later chapters.

I can't speak highly enough of this book

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jennifer is trying to atone for the horrible way she treated her mother Rose now that Rose is suffering from Alzheimer's.

Jennifer was a rotten pre-teen and teenager supposedly stemming from the trauma of her father's death. Even though the story is told from Jennifer's and Rose's POV, we don't find out the real meat of the situation until the end of the book. It's not that much of a reveal especially to a reader who is a mother or a daughter.

Themes of family, family dynamics (Mom/Dad liked you best scenarios), guilt and love

Quick read made even quicker by Willis galloping to the end after 275 pages of buildup.

[Sharon Tanner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having dealt with my mother’s dementia, this book hit a nerve. It, and Alzheimer’s, are horrible things, and watching someone you love suffer from it is awful. We don’t really know what’s going on in their heads, but I can imagine that what the character Rose is thinking and how’s she’s acting could be a true representation. I was fortunate that my mother never became combative or mean and stayed sweet and kind and until her death.

[Gwen Susanek]

Usually after a few chapters I can tell if I will like the book. I read a few chapters and know that this book will never hold my interest. Do not recommend this book. Sorry.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Jennifer, a woman with a husband and teenaged daughter of her own, having her elderly mother move into her home is both a blessing and a curse. Jen, who once ran away from home--and stayed away for ten years--is determined to gain her mother's forgiveness for their estrangement. She wants more than anything to apologize to her mother for the child that she was, and wants nothing more than for her mother to apologize for the alcoholic mother that Rose turned into after her husband's death. In fact, however, forgiviness may not be forthcoming on her mother's part, due to the fact that Rose is suffering from Alzheimer's.

At times wonderfully lucid but more often than not living in the past, Rose wanders through a world where her husband is still alive, where her daughter Jennifer is still an angry, rebellious teen, where her son Peter still strives for achievement, and her youngest daughter, Betsy, sits quietly in the background. Rose wanders the corridors of her life as if it was a play, like one of the ones that her husband, Michael, once directed. She doesn't know who this woman is that keeps talking to her, asking her questions. She doesn't recognize Todd, Jennifer's husband, and often thinks her granddaughter, Jazz, is alternately her wayward daughter or her in-home nurse.

A GOOD DISTANCE is a poignant story of love and forgiveness, of family, and of learning to forgive yourself. Dealing with Rose's Alzheimer's takes its toll on everyone involved, and yet her moments of lucidity almost make the pain worse for her daughter. For Jennifer, this time together before she can allow herself to put her mother in a nursing home is a second chance at a mother-daughter relationship. For Rose, it's a time of anger and embarrassment, mixed in with love and disgust for those around her.

Sarah Willis has penned another wonderfully complicated, rich family drama, with heartfelt emotions and dialogue. A true winner.

[Marlee Pinsker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was both an education and a delight. It begins in the mixed up mind of a woman with Alzheimer's, taking the reader on a little kaleidoscope of a tour through different periods of her life. This interlude ends with her confusion so profound that she decides that it is best if she just doesn't wake up again and subsides instead into her own memories.

But wake up she does in the subsequent book, and we go through it with her, tracing her life forward and backwards as it entwines with the life of her eldest daughter. The book is small, physically, and it is only 300 or so pages, but they lead us into the thorough exploration of the characters' lives. The scenes are so well described and so vivid that I entered into them wholeheartedly. There was a series of different points of view presented and each chapter forced me to figure out which character was in charge, but the characters were so well drawn that I did not find it difficult.

While the subject matter is not easy to read, the treatment of it was handled beautifully. I sat back and enjoyed the ride and it ended so beautifully

***spoiler****
The mother dies at the end, and at her funeral Jennifer was the last to speak,

"She hated strawberry ice cream," I say, speaking up because it has begun to rain. " I loved her. I'll miss her." I feel Todd's hand in mine, and it's warm despite the cold weather. I take Jazz's hand, and we three are the family I have, and I am so proud.

As my mother is lowered into the ground, the rain turns into a gale, a hard rain blowing sidewaqys, edging its way under the canopy; not a gentle rain but one that will knock branches from trees and tear shingles off well-kept homes. I imagine my father directing this scene, waving his large hands, shouting, "More wind: Get that lightening going! Thunder!" But my moter is no longer here. She sits somewhere, on a patchwork quilt in the sunlight, watching us, waiting for my father to finish the show."

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two difficult subjects are covered – the aftermath of a parent and husband’s death and Alzheimer’s disease – and both are handled well. The story switches voices between mother and daughter and the writing from the mother’s point of view seemed like an accurate portrayal of what it might feel like to be in the shoes of an Alzheimer’s patient. The daughter, Jennifer, is seemingly desperate in her search for redemption from her mother for past transgressions as she races to her goal before time runs out and her mother no longer comprehends what she wants to say. The story of each the mother’s and daughter’s pasts were quite engaging. I read this immediately after “You’re Not You” which also covers a weighty topic. Each book was so absorbing I had to take a few days off from reading to shake the dark shroud of the weighty subject matters. I don’t recommend reading these titles back-to-back.

[Sheri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written book about a woman who takes her mother into her home when she really should be in a nursing home. Trying to relieve the guilt of the past, Jen feels she can make this time with her mother special. But it comes with a price. Her daughter and husband need her too, and all her effort and time are going into caring for her mother. She eventualy sees that her mother belongs in the nursing home where she will receive 24 hr. care.
The book takes place in Cleveland Heights and I lived there from the time I was 10 till 18, so I am familiar with the names of streets and the surrounding area in the book, which made it interesting to read. Lots os sadness and dredging up past memories, but a good book, altogether.

[Edith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second book by Sarah Willis, an author from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, and I enjoyed this one as much as the first one.

Is there anything as intense as the mother-daughter relationship? This story explores that complex relationship over time. When the book opens, we meet the mother Rose who is stricken with Alzheimers and her daughter Jennifer who is trying to care for her at home instead of putting her into a nursing home. And then we learn of their fraught history from earlier days and the action is on.....author Willis is a GOOD storyteller! She captures emotions and thought processes perfectly.....totally realistic. It certainly kept my interest.

I recommend this author for those who enjoy stories about family relationships in all their untidiness and passion.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I book I could not decide how to rate: between three and four stars. A book about Alzheimers by a gifted author- how could I not read it. But I kept getting confused and thinking I was reading The Notebook. Not that it is a love story- it's not- or, it is, just not about the romance part of love. What can anyone say or write about this horrible disease? Perhaps this author addresses some of the other questions that are part and parcel: Is forgiveness possible? Is it an option to rewrite the past? How do you let go of what has gone before and move on? You get the gist. Read it.

[Darci · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters in this book are so human, and so flawed, yet understandably so. I loved how the author really does make her readers sympathize with everyone in the story. The story, essentially a tale of regrets and responsibility, seems to border on non-fiction for its basis in reality. It was easy to get through, but still emotionally charged.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I was completely annoyed by the way this book was written - flippig between first person and third person and then another person. Once I got used to it, though, A Good Distance turned out to be a good book about mixed emotions, forgiveness, and dealing with aging families.

[Beth T · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just read "still Alice" and then read this book about Alzheimer's. Hard to read about this subject back to back. "Still Alice" is definitely a better book. This one was a little confusing because it went back and forth between current day and what the subject can remember from years past.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book, hard to put down. I actually read it twice.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 2nd book I've read by this author, & can't wait to read her other books. She tells a beautiful story, with well-developed characters.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't want to live with any of my children if I am too old and feeble to take care of myself...when my life is over why destroy theirs...

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who wants to settle with the past..this one's a good read.

[Meyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just a book. Nothing special