Eleanor Craig (1929–2017)

This was a very interesting story of a wild child. I have enjoyed books by Torey Hayden and Mary MacCracken. This was very similar. There was much more parent involvement in this book because the problem began with the relationship between mother and son. Ms Craig had to spend as much time with the mother as with the child. It was great to see growth for both. These books always make me wonder how the clients fared years later. Did the child grow to have a happy life? Was the mother able to let go and form a life of her own? I also wonder how these people felt about Ms Craig's absences in their lives. They came to depend so much on her and then her personal life took her away from them. Overall a fascinating story. I think I can recommend it to patrons that enjoyed A Child Called It.… (more)

I first read The Moon is Broken after its initial publication in 1992. Back then, AIDS was still a mysterious and much-stigmatized disease. It was also a certain death sentence. Family therapist and author Eleanor Craig did a courageous thing by writing about her beloved daughter Ann's battle against the disease.

When I first read the book I thought Ann's mental illness caused her to self-medicate with a number of street drugs, including heroin, and then sharing dirty needles caused her to become infected with HIV. This time around, I see that she may have been infected during an undergraduate study trip to Africa, when a "witch doctor" pressed a mysterious sharp object into her palm. It is possible that the symptoms of Ann's mental illness, which included anorexia, cutting, and hoarding, may have been the result of AIDS-related dementia manifesting itself long before her diagnosis. For many years Ann's on-again, off-again hostility towards her family made her nearly impossible to deal with, but Eleanor never gave up.

Eleanor Craig has written a beautiful, moving tribute to her daughter, which is still worth reading (or re-reading) today. I highly recommend this memoir.

Please note that I received an electronic copy of this book to review from NetGalley, but I was not financially compensated in any way. The opinions expressed are my own and are based on my observations while reading this book.… (more)

Some time ago I read an article online, now lost to the pits of the internet found it! about libraries weeding books. All through reading P.S. Your Not Listening, I kept coming back to that thought of weeding. Would I weed this book? Or would I let it be, with the understanding that it's a product of its time? On one side, it's an sweet, slightly bland, story about a teacher's first year working with "unteachable" kids. On the other side, it's from the 1970s, the language is dated (mongoloid, retarded, etc.), and other than a testimony of its own existence, there's not a lot of depth there. Or, I suppose there is depth there but, it's not the depth that was put there at the time of writing, but rather reading the book now, from a 2016 perspective, man, being a working woman was awful back in the 1970s. Sure, it's fine for your husband to go out for drinks in the evening, but if you've got a work meeting in the evening, well then, aren't you just cutting into family time. Aren't you just a lousy wife and mother, which should always come first.

So yay second wave feminism.

But, yeah, probably not the point of the book.

So weed or not? Clearly, as it's being republished in 2016, there's an argument for letting it lie. But, as for a purpose in the larger universe of books, I'm not sure. Short and quick to read (although did she get consent from the kids she's writing about? How much exactly is fictionalized? I guess that's another whole issue to consider with this book), interesting from a sociological/historical standpoint, but also dated. Hedge-clippers or not, you be the judge.

P.S. Your Not Listening by Eleanor Craig was re-released on May 13, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.… (more)