Our Mothers' Spirits

It is the enduring bond between mothers and their sons that is explored in this astounding, emotion-packed collection of essays and poems. Editor Bob Blauner has assembled a diverse group of writers on a topic shared by them all: their sorrow upon the death of a mother and what it means to continue on without her physical presence. Featuring works from some of our greatest writers, including John Updike, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Gus Lee, Russell Baker, and John Cheever, this heartfelt anthology also includes original and provocative essays by some of America's rising stars, such as Peter Najarian and Juan Felipe Herrera. Issues such as the loss of a mother who dies too young or, in contrast, the painful sight of an aging mother in decline are explored with great insight. Whether the end comes naturally, through euthanasia, or tragically and unexpectedly, how the loss is experienced is handled with great sensitivity. A highly emotional event whether we are twelve years old or fifty years old, a mother's demise causes us to question our values, our reasons for existence. Although this momentous rite of passage certainly transforms each of us, the message of this compassionate, deeply moving book is that a mother's passing does not end our relationship with her - for her identity has become our own, our life her greatest gift.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Self-Help, Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.