Vanity Fair contributing writer Jong-Fast (
The Social Climber’s Handbook) delivers as she turns from novels to memoir with a gripping, emotional account of the complexities of mother-daughter relationships. Jong-Fast grew up in the shadow of her mother Erica Jong’s stardom after the wild success of Jong’s 1973 novel
Fear of Flying. Jong-Fast describes the loneliness she felt as her mother rushed off to social engagements and how little time they had to connect once her mother became an icon of second-wave feminism. Fast-forward 50 years to the near-present, and Jong-Fast is dealing with the medical diagnoses of both her husband and mother—he with a rare cancer, and she with dementia. As Jong-Fast struggles with the emotional burdens of her new role as caregiver, she finds that she has a rare chance to find connection and healing with her mother. Readers will relate to the raw vulnerability she expresses in her relationship and will feel both pain and uplift as they make their way through the book.
VERDICT Similar in style and tone to Michelle Zauner’s Crying in H Mart, this memoir is sure to be a favorite among fans of the genre for its compulsive readability and realness.