On Friday, March 8th, author and actress Kate Mulgrew sat down with LLF's Virginia Stanley to discuss her upcoming memoir, How to Forget. This is an incredible interview not to be missed.
Before you watch, please read this powerful review from Maxine Bleiweis, former Westport (CT) Library Director and current owner of Maxine Bleiweis & Associates Consulting:
"How to Forget leaves you wishing you had read it before going through the hardest role for an adult child—being witness to your parents at the end of their lives. Whether the reason is cancer, Alzheimer’s, or natural causes, this book by Kate Mulgrew left me wishing I had read this book before going through the challenge of how to be the best daughter for my parents’ last months. Mulgrew’s insight will stay with me for a long, long time and be on my recommendation list for all who are saying goodbye to their parents."
Click below to watch the interview!
Watch on : https://youtu.be/JPYRigm3aqw
You can also listen to the interview on our podcast:
From Virginia Stanley: Who were your parents before they were your parents? How and why did they fall in love with each other? Did they measure up to each other’s expectations? What were their dreams—and what happened to those dreams? What was your unique connection to each of them? And in the final chapters of their lives, do you have a full understanding of who they inherently were, who they became and why? Can you let them go? Have all the words been said that needed saying?
Kate Mulgrew takes on these questions and so much more in her forthcoming memoir, How to Forget. She has gone deep to deliver a beautifully written, searingly honest collection of memories of her childhood in Iowa but more specifically of her parents: who they were, what family life was like, and how she cared for them in the final chapter of their lives.
This is an entirely relatable, universal story about family. Whether you have aging parents or parental figures in your life, if you are an only child or one of eight or nine or ten, if you are the primary caregiver or dancing that emotional tightrope with siblings, this book will touch your heart. You will likely recognize moments, passages, pages in this memoir that will relate to your own life.
The biggest mistake a reader could make is to presume one needs to be a follower of Ms. Mulgrew’s dramatic work in order to connect to the voice in this book. That simply isn’t the case. This memoir is devoid of celebrity ego but full of pathos and hubris. It’s a reflective and at times very funny read (her parents were very quick-witted!) I wasn’t fully prepared to have this book envelop me as it did. This is a powerful look back on the lives of two of the most important people in her life—written in prose so beautiful it borders on poetic.
Every so often a book comes along that pierces my heart and introduces me to people I’m better for having known.
How to Forget is one those books.
Check out this amazing quote from author Malachy McCourt:
-Virginia