Quarter three SSR

    I think that the memoir, In my Mother’s Hands, by Biff Ward will be read one hundred years from now. This novel is about how Ward struggles with handling her mother’s mental illness. With her mom being schizophrenic, she didn’t really pay attention to her kids and left the caretaking and providing up to her husband. Ward had a really good relationship with her dad but she still hoped to have some kind of attention from her mom. The way the book starts and ends is with Biff’s older sister Allison who died when she was just a few months old. In her death certificate it says that Allison died because her mom fainted and then Allison drowned. Biff always wondered what really happened though.
One of the reasons why I think this book will be read one hundred years from now is because everyone can relate to the need for acceptance and attention from their parents. Throughout the whole novel, Biff fails at getting her mom to positively  participate in her life, but she doesn’t quit trying even when the whole family has moved away from her mom.
Another reason is that this country is starting to talk about subjects considered “taboo” a little more now and mental illnesses are one of those subjects. This isn’t a made up story about a mental illness but an actual account of someone who has indirectly dealt with it. It’s not sugar coated or written by the hand of someone who hasn’t encountered a mental illness. I think this book gives useful insight on what it is like to live with someone who is schizophrenic.
Later in the novel, Ward tells us that her mom had a hand gouging kit that had razors, tweezers, scissors, and all types of things in it. Her mom’s hands got so bad that she started wearing white gloves all the time to cover them up. Towards the end of the book, Ward writes that she thinks the reason why her mom gouges at her hands is because every time she looks at them she feels the weight of what she has done all over again. The thing that she has done is kill Allison. No one believes that it was an accident and it is highly possible that her mom purposely drowned Allison. We can all relate to that feeling of guilt and remorse, maybe not to that extent but we can still relate to it.
While I was reading the book, I really appreciated that Ward told us the things that her family tried so hard to keep a secret in previous years. She revealed all of the details so the reader could fully understand the weight of her situation. She was totally fine with being vulnerable and open while writing her book and wrote about her thoughts and feelings even though she knew people would read them.