Very sad and eye-opening book about complicated family dynamics, aging, and grief. I think working in a senior home made me recognize a lot of Tasha’s thoughts on assisted living in the seniors that I’ve met. I think that the author’s goal of genuinely portraying his mother as she was while also not holding back on the ways he feels he failed her was achieved, and his guilt at not doing more for her before it was too late was devastating to read, especially in his final monologue where he tries to embody her voice and thoughts. However, Tasha’s journal entries were the most devastating part of the book to me for similar reasons as they were to the author: her desires expressed to be closer with her children, to clean up her house, to get out of bed in the mornings, but feeling unable to share these things with anyone but herself. I appreciated that the author highlighted how important activism was to her and highlights how she made real changes in her community because you could tell how proud he was of her for doing so.