How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir

Political writer Jong-Fast calls this deeply personal memoir “the story of the worst year of my life.” As she recounts, it was never easy being bestselling writer Erica Jong’s daughter. But in her 40s, Jong-Fast hit a terrible trifecta: her mother was diagnosed with dementia, her stepfather with Parkinson’s, and her husband with pancreatic cancer. As she sees her mother slipping away, Jong-Fast is compelled to make sense of their relationship, which has always been difficult: her mother was alcoholic, narcissistic, and utterly unavailable to her daughter. This is sad, yes, yet I was transfixed by Jong-Fast’s persistence in grappling with her dysfunctional family dynamics and their ongoing impacts. The through line of fame and its dangers was also fascinating.