What We Carry: A Memoir

What We Carry: A Memoir

Maya Shanbhag Lang’s memoir opens with a fable. Her brilliant mother tells the tale in Lang's own early days of motherhood, and its significance unspools through the chapters ahead. The author’s backstory is revealed in vignettes with alternate timelines: born to an Indian immigrant family with an abusive father and a psychiatrist mother, she clings to the relationship with her mom through a divorce and a cross-country move. After having her first child, Lang just wants her mother to be there for her, but she’s met with a cold and confusing distance. It turns out her mother is struggling with Alzheimer’s, and once she steps in as caretaker, stories and long-held secrets begin to emerge. Poetic and moving, this is a story of generational healing, motherhood, and mental illness.

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