Ebook316 pages5 hours
The Habit
By Susan Morse
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this ebook
There is an unmistakable gleam in Ma’s eye, and her absolute composure both appalls me and rips my heart from its root. I burst into tears. The gauntlet is thrown.
From the time she was conceived, Susan Morse was her mother’s “special” child. For Susan, special translated into becoming her incorrigible mother’s frazzled caretaker, a role that continued into adulthood. Now she finds herself as part of the sandwich generation, responsible for a woman whose eighty-five years have been single-mindedly devoted to identifying The Answer To Everything. And, this week’s Answer looks like it may be the real thing.
Susan’s mother is becoming a nun.
Mother Brigid is opinionated and discerning (Don’t call them trash cans. They’re scrap baskets!), feisty and dogmatic (Stop signs and No Parking zones are installed by bureaucratic pencil pushers with nothing better to do), a brilliant artist (truly, a saving grace), and predictably unpredictable, recently demonstrated by her decision to convert to Orthodox Christianity and join its holy order. Dressed in full nun regalia, she might be mistaken for a Taliban bigwig. But just as Mother Brigid makes her debut at church, a debilitating accident puts her in a rehab center hours from Susan’s home, where Susan’s already up to her neck juggling three teenagers, hot flashes, a dog, two cats, and a husband whose work pulls him away from the family for months at a time. Now Susan gets to find out if it’s less exhausting to be at her mother’s beck and call from one hundred miles away or one hundred feet. And she’s beginning to suspect that the things she always thought she knew about her mother were only the tip of a wonderfully singular iceberg.
In this fresh, funny, utterly irresistible memoir, Susan Morse offers readers a look at a mother-daughter relationship that is both universal and unique. For anyone who’s wondered how they made it through their childhood with their sanity intact, for every multitasking woman coping simultaneously with parents and children, for those of us who love our parents come hell or high water (because we just can’t help it), Susan Morse’s story is surprising, reassuring, and laugh-out-loud funny. A beguiling journey of love, forbearance, and self-discovery, The Habit introduces two unforgettable women you’ll be glad to know—from a safe distance.
From the time she was conceived, Susan Morse was her mother’s “special” child. For Susan, special translated into becoming her incorrigible mother’s frazzled caretaker, a role that continued into adulthood. Now she finds herself as part of the sandwich generation, responsible for a woman whose eighty-five years have been single-mindedly devoted to identifying The Answer To Everything. And, this week’s Answer looks like it may be the real thing.
Susan’s mother is becoming a nun.
Mother Brigid is opinionated and discerning (Don’t call them trash cans. They’re scrap baskets!), feisty and dogmatic (Stop signs and No Parking zones are installed by bureaucratic pencil pushers with nothing better to do), a brilliant artist (truly, a saving grace), and predictably unpredictable, recently demonstrated by her decision to convert to Orthodox Christianity and join its holy order. Dressed in full nun regalia, she might be mistaken for a Taliban bigwig. But just as Mother Brigid makes her debut at church, a debilitating accident puts her in a rehab center hours from Susan’s home, where Susan’s already up to her neck juggling three teenagers, hot flashes, a dog, two cats, and a husband whose work pulls him away from the family for months at a time. Now Susan gets to find out if it’s less exhausting to be at her mother’s beck and call from one hundred miles away or one hundred feet. And she’s beginning to suspect that the things she always thought she knew about her mother were only the tip of a wonderfully singular iceberg.
In this fresh, funny, utterly irresistible memoir, Susan Morse offers readers a look at a mother-daughter relationship that is both universal and unique. For anyone who’s wondered how they made it through their childhood with their sanity intact, for every multitasking woman coping simultaneously with parents and children, for those of us who love our parents come hell or high water (because we just can’t help it), Susan Morse’s story is surprising, reassuring, and laugh-out-loud funny. A beguiling journey of love, forbearance, and self-discovery, The Habit introduces two unforgettable women you’ll be glad to know—from a safe distance.
Author
Susan Morse
Susan Morse was educated at Williams College. She has worked as an actress in L.A. and New York and is the author of The Habit. She now lives in Philadelphia with her husband, David, and their three children, when they’re home from college.
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Reviews for The Habit
Rating: 3.7777776888888894 out of 5 stars
4/5
9 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I selected The Habit for my face-to-face book club based on a one paragraph description of it in the Book Passage newsletter. I don't have that paragraph any more but it was something about being funny and dealing with an adult woman whose mother decides to become a nun. The book club was just forming and I didn't know how serious the readers would be so I thought it would be a good choice. I enjoyed it but had I read it in advance I wouldn't have selected it for a group I don't know well because it has quite a few religious and political comments in it. Book club meets Wednesday night so I can report on how they felt about it after that.Susan Morse is happily married to David Morse, a successful character actor with a long list of familiar credits. They have three children who are in their late teens during the period of the book.The book is a memoir of two years during which the author's mid-80's mother was having serious health issues and the author was called upon to take over health care management, transportation, bill-paying, etc. It's a typical sandwich-generation dilemma. The relationship has been rocky before and now they're forced to spend long periods of time together in the car, waiting for medical appointments, etc. The mother has changed religions several times and just before she becomes ill she has become a devout member of the Eastern Orthodox church. As the book opens she is becoming a nun.Having been through the sandwich generation years with a mother and mother-in-law who needed assistance I could relate to many of the challenges faced by this family, although my own mother and m-i-l were not nearly as colorful as Ms. Morse's mother is. I don't think there is a comparable term for a "coming of age" novel when it deals with late-life issues but, if there were, it would apply here. Ms. Morse deals with those challenges openly, fairly and lovingly which is what makes the book a warm, gentle read. If you've been there you'll smile and grimace in sympathy. If you're in the middle of it right now, it will probably feel good to know there are others out there. If you haven't reached that point yet you'll find it amusing and perhaps be better prepared if you find yourself the meat in that sandwich someday.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Susan Morse is able to take a delightfully refreshing look at the relationship she has with her elderly mother as she writes this memoir. It's almost amazing that her mother reads the chapters and comments on them, and laughs, as her daughter, Susan, produces them. The detail is amazing---even her mother agrees! It's exhausting and funny and very, very readable, especially to anyone in the midst of somewhat similar circumstances---the world of the middle ones---worrying/caring for parents at the same time they are worrying/caring for their children.
Book preview
The Habit - Susan Morse
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