Guess who's coming to dinner and NOT leaving? Grandma, that's who. Why? She can't find her way home.
After luring us through her debut novel, On the Brink of Bliss and Insanity with stark wit and mad fascinating characters, Cerasoli surprises us with the wryly written heartfelt story of life with her ailing grandmother.
"There's only one man I ever loved.
We met when I was fourteen and we were married for fifty-seven years.
What the hell was his name?"
Nora Jo
As Nora Jo Fades Away
Book Awards for As Nora Jo Fades Away
Lisa's Gram, Nora Jo was diagnosed with progressive dementia and then ultimately Alzheimer's Disease in 2006. By 2008, it became clear she could no longer live on her own. So Lisa and her family moved her in and life as they knew it shifted instantaneously from Michigan...to Mars. The Weavers quickly discover that the "comicals" and tragedies of Nora Jo's incurable condition bring a whole new realm of "crazy" to their offbeat but copasetic abode, driving it into full-throttle Darwinian mode. Yep, it's officially "Survival of the Fittest" at the Weaver joint, and even the dogs are contemplating a nice, quiet exit to "the farm."
As Nora Jo Fades Away will make your heart and mind wrestle, as Cerasoli's does, with concepts like love vs. logic and Heaven & Hell. Dementia, Alzheimer's and related mental illnesses are not something a person can really "prepare" for. This story redefines the price a family is willing to pay for one of its members to hold onto dignity.
If you've missed Archie Bunker's off-color-in-your-face wit, he's back in the shape of Nora Jo. Taking care of her? World's most unlikely caregiver. In other words-a soap star gone Michigan. In other words-Nurse Jackie with designer jeans, but without the RN degree.
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