What does a son do when he hears voices? Withdraw? Or use his sword, poetry to defend himself?
This book is about the life and eventual death of one such son. This story is told through his outlets, poetry and his Mom’s soul searching and eventually cathartic memoir. Fred Eustis writes in his introduction, “Poetry was a sword he used to defend himself against the voices. . .” Jeanne’s memoir puts these poems, which at times are quite unsettling, in a family context. It is like a quest in which Jeanne and Robert explore who they are, and what they came here for and what really matters. Fred Eustis.
I live with my husband in New Market, Maryland. No dogs, cats or goldfish. Just Grandchildren. I am a mother of three boys and one girl. A grandmother of three boys and one girl.
I kept journals on all four children with the intention of writing a journal book for all four. Mom . . . Let’s Talk is the first book so far. I’m not sure I will do more.
I have talked at bookclubs. I have participated in community venues regarding Mental Illness. I have become passionate about stopping the stigma of mental illness. People need to talk.
This book is very real and raw; a beautiful memoir of a mother’s relationship with her eldest son and how she helped him fight his inner demons while still caring and nurturing her three other children and husband. For any family who has a child struggling with mental illness, this is a book you will want to read. The poetry written by Robert that is all throughout this book is beautiful. It gives a glimpse into the mind of someone struggling to fight against the darkness of mental illness and how he used poetry and story telling to work through that pain.
Source: Amazon Books
Mom . . . Let’s Talk is a heartbreaking tale. It is also extremely important to help start the conversation on mental illness and how it affects those who suffer, as wells their loved ones. It is filled with raw emotion and shows a mother’s love knows no bounds in how she cared for her eldest son who was suffering from mental illness while caring for her other three children, too.
Source: Pacific Book Review