A Mother Dies: A Journey With My Mother’s Dying and Stepping Into Myself by Arusha Topazzini #review

About the Book

I was my mother’s only child, and she almost died giving birth to me.
We were best friends. the kind that bicker & argue all the time.
We were also so incredibly stubborn.

My mother died in 2013, when I was 32 years old.
We had just spent 18 months living together in an absurdly large house in Goa.
18 months with my mother and her liver tumour.

Her dying was an earthquake & a tsunami. I got washed away deep into grief, and self-reckoning; exploring each and every corner of our stubborn, argumentative, confusing, fragile & so deeply loving relationship.
I had a relationship with my mother as she was, and I have a relationship with my mother-as-she-is-now.
It is an ongoing journey. Incredibly precious.

When she died, it took me 2 years to find the words I needed to share this journey, and as they slowly, painfully, beautifully took shape, they became the short memoir I am sharing with you today.

---

My thoughts

To be perfectly honest, this is not a book I would usually go for. Having lost my daughter to cancer I try to avoid anything along these lines but when the author got in touch and asked if I’d like to review I thought I’d give it a try.

A Mother Dies is a short story with around 50 pages so is easily read in one sitting. It’s a heartfelt story telling the journey of a daughter losing her mum. It’s actually quite difficult to write a review for this book as it’s actually a persons story and feelings. It’s not made up, the characters aren’t fiction but it’s something everyone will have to deal with in their life time, the loss of someone close to them.

It’s a well written story that really brings out the authors emotions and feelings and her relationship with her mum. The way it’s written is like the author is actually speaking to you and telling her story. You feel her sadness, regrets and the love she felt.  The descriptiveness of the locations were beautifully written, I could easily picture them in my head as if I  were there myself.

This isn’t a story about cancer but a story about the relationship between mother and daughter, the journey they lead throughout the illness and the authors acceptance. It’s beautifully written and you’d need a heart of stone not to feel any emotions while reading it.

4/5 star rating