A Son Reflects On His Relationship With His Witty Mother

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In his first memoir, novelist Brian Morton chronicles the story of his mother as she suffers from the effects of a stroke and then dementia. The book, Tasha: A Son’s Memoir is an excellent look into the lives of not only one family, but I think, many others who have gone through similar experiences with their relatives. From when he resorts to hiding a recording device in his mother’s cluttered house, and finds out that her caretaker has verbally abused her, to when Tasha screams that she’s being kidnapped at a crowded restaurant when Brian attempts to take her to his house to care for her, to her insistence that anyone who enjoys angel food cake is an idiot, the story Brian paints is both heartbreaking, but also funny. Morton's past books include Florence Gordon and Starting Out in the Evening which was adapted into a film in 2007. Brian’s received the Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Koret Jewish Book Award for Fiction, and the Guggenheim Foundation Award. He’s also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. We’ll talk to Brian this week.