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Adam's Reviews > Mother, Come Home
Mother, Come Home
by
by
Paul Hornschemeier writes a heart-breaking book. There's no getting around that. Nor, after reading "Mother, Come Home" is there really any desire to.
Death is one of life's inescapable parts, and this books deals with it on many different levels. I'm pretty sure this is autobiographical, seeing as that Paul's uncle (referenced and drawn at several points throughout the book) draws the introduction. It grants its reader a squirmingly intimate look at grief and loss through the eyes of a small boy.
Paul's mother has recently died, and in the wake of this tragedy, he embraces fantasy and escapism as a means of coping. His father, whom he lives with, is profoundly wounded by the loss himself, meaning that during his gradual mental breakdown and withdrawal from the world, he is little to no help to young Paul.
Instead, routine shows itself as what it truly is: both something that can save and something that can deny. In trying to keep the daily routines alive in his home as his father collapses in upon himself (eventually being hospitalized), the boy is broken himself, finally realizing he is unable to maintain a falsehood: his mother is not alive, and he and his father are not "okay".
Further sadness and tragedy occur, but the moments of sweetness, although they are few, are breathtaking.
My wife asked me why I would choose to read something so sad, particularly as I deal with it throughout my days as a therapist. My answer doesn't entirely make sense even to me, but I hold to it:
"There are things that need to be experienced, statements that need to be heard, and books that need to be read. They may be dark, or sad, or heartbreaking, but they deserve to be felt."
Death is one of life's inescapable parts, and this books deals with it on many different levels. I'm pretty sure this is autobiographical, seeing as that Paul's uncle (referenced and drawn at several points throughout the book) draws the introduction. It grants its reader a squirmingly intimate look at grief and loss through the eyes of a small boy.
Paul's mother has recently died, and in the wake of this tragedy, he embraces fantasy and escapism as a means of coping. His father, whom he lives with, is profoundly wounded by the loss himself, meaning that during his gradual mental breakdown and withdrawal from the world, he is little to no help to young Paul.
Instead, routine shows itself as what it truly is: both something that can save and something that can deny. In trying to keep the daily routines alive in his home as his father collapses in upon himself (eventually being hospitalized), the boy is broken himself, finally realizing he is unable to maintain a falsehood: his mother is not alive, and he and his father are not "okay".
Further sadness and tragedy occur, but the moments of sweetness, although they are few, are breathtaking.
My wife asked me why I would choose to read something so sad, particularly as I deal with it throughout my days as a therapist. My answer doesn't entirely make sense even to me, but I hold to it:
"There are things that need to be experienced, statements that need to be heard, and books that need to be read. They may be dark, or sad, or heartbreaking, but they deserve to be felt."
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Mother, Come Home.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
June 3, 2008
– Shelved
