Cathie Borrie

I'm uncomfortable rating a book so obviously forged out of pain. The Long Hello is a sort of poetic portrait of the author's time caring for an elderly mother with Alzheimer's Disease. It is also an exploration of the pain of the past--the loss of a beloved thirteen-year-old brother to violence, a biological father to alcoholism, the author's mother's remarriage to a successful businessman 22 years her senior, and the author's girlhood banishment to a boarding school only minutes away from her mother and stepfather's apartment. (Having the teenaged Borrie live with them would have been intolerable to her stepfather and would've ended the marriage, Borrie's mother confesses at one point.)

Much of the book consists of rambling, nonsensical, and oddly poetic conversations between Borrie's addled mother and Borrie herself. The author apparently recorded many of these conversations, as they fascinated her. Music, dancing, and birds figure prominently in these talks.

At times a compelling book, sometimes swift-moving, The Long Hello is not a pleasant read. It's an uncomfortable testimony. I can't say I am glad I read it, but I believe I understand why Borrie wrote it. Why the title, The Long Hello, was chosen, I can't say. The Long Goodbye would've been a far more accurate title, but that one has already been taken. Be forewarned if you read it.… (altro)