This was the surprise book in my Christmas stash. As I had my mother to stay over the holidays, this was the perfect book to tide me over the difficult days! Nancy's story of her crazy mother is laugh-out-loud funny in places.

When her brother calls to tell her that her father has died and her mother is in a coma following a carbon monoxide leak in her father's boat (he did the maintenance himself), he tells her to "prepare yourself for a double funeral."

"How do I prepare for a double funeral? Pack two of everything? Pack clothes that are very black?"

If you enjoy sharp wit and dark humor, you'll love The Center of the Universe: A Memoir. ( )

The Review

Memoirs are becoming one my favorite books to read. So many good ones come to mind… The Glass Castle, Angela’s Ashes and The Invisible Wall. This particular memoir is a daughter’s story of her remarkable mother, Lola. Although many would argue that Lola is plain crazy, the woman is brilliant, beautiful and quirky. Like most mothers, Lola’s had her share of parenting mistakes that have left a lasting impression on Nancy. Despite the difficulty of dealing with her mother, both in childhood and adulthood, Nancy cannot deny the strength of the deep bond she has with her mom, the uniquely “colorful” mom that she is!

Nancy’s journey back home upon her father’s death and mother’s accidental coma took me for a bit of a loop. For much of the beginning of the story I felt that Nancy was intentionally detached from the situation and from Lola. It almost felt as though she wasn’t hurting and mourning the loss of her father the way that an adult child normally would. She was the first of the siblings to take a shift taking care of her mother before returning to work in France. During this time, I still felt the distance between Nancy and Lola. But, as the story continues on, I come to realize that much of what Nancy is saying is for the sake of her sanity and the protection of her heart. She does, in fact, love her mother dearly. As her mother recovers from her coma and eventually regains her health, Nancy is there for her in such a strong way. By the end of the book, the love that Nancy feels for Lola is so beautifully apparent.

Overall, Nancy handles this traumatic situation with character and grace. You come to learn to laugh with Nancy and love Lola. What more could you ask for?

The Rating

Despite the psychological depth of this book, Bachrach writes this memoir with memorable wit. She’s got a great sense of humor… you know that dry, cynical way of bringing intelligent laughter. For a debut book, she wrote it quite cleverly and it compels the reader to continue the story. At times, the distance between Nancy and Lola saddened me, but the resilience of their family’s love made it all worth it in the end. I would recommend this book and found it to be one of the more unique reads of the year, to date! ( )

The Center of the Universe is not your run-of-the-mill memoir; the style, tone, and content will have you laughing, crying and shaking your head. Nancy Bachrach has a gift for putting the FUN in dysfunctional when she shares her family story.

The memoir is at times flippant and at times emotionally raw, but always brutally honest, to the best of Bachrach’s recollection. It opens when Bachrach receives a phone call from her brother, telling her that their father, Mort, has died and their mother, Lola, is in a “comma” (per the hospital chart at the small rural hospital where she is first treated). On the flight home to Providence, Rhode Island, Bachrach starts her reminiscence of a childhood full of “what the heck” moments; I put myself in her seat and tried to image how I would function upon hearing of one parent’s disability, never mind the double-whammy she was handed.

Bachrach uses a present tense for scenes that take place after the freak boating accident that killed Mort and put Lola in a “comma”; this is incredibly effective - I felt her frustration when dealing with discouraging medical news, her determination to learn all she could about neurological ailments, and her elation at small victories. Scenes set in her childhood are told in the past tense; again, an effective technique to differentiate the flashbacks which set the stage for the current dilemma.

The Center of the Universe was written with the permission and encouragement of Lola, the self-proscribed Center of the Universe. Lola has suffered manic episodes throughout Bachrach’s childhood; on one family drive she tells them she has an announcement to make to Mort, Nancy, her brother (Ben), and sister (Helen) (p 9), and proceeds to tell them "I am the center of the universe,” she says, looking at each of us in turn, making sure we appreciate the significance. “And everyone else is a star revolving around me.”

I’ll admit that I was a bit taken aback when I started the memoir and faced Bachrach’s cynical approach to telling the tale. I soon realized that, far from being disrespectful, this was her way of processing and managing the huge shock. The book ebbs and flows in its sarcasm, and is at times quite sweet and daringly introspective; not dark and abrasive like I found Augusten Burroughs’ writing to be.

Although Bachrach touches on her relationships with her father and siblings, it is clearly Lola, the center of the universe, who is the center of this book. The end result is the story of a mother and daughter coming to terms with their past relationship, and finding their way into new roles with each other.

I can’t speak for Nancy Bachrach, but, as a mother (and a daughter), I was gratified to see that this family tragedy led her to seek out the “real” Lola, and to craft the results of this search into a very personal and satisfying memoir. Highly recommended; I’ll look forward to reading more from Nancy Bachrach.

Full review at: www.sheIsTooFondOfBooks.com
She is Too Fond of Books ( )

I approached this book with caution, not sure where it was going. But, by the end, I came to appreciate the author and the story she had to tell. The book begins with an accident that kills her father and leaves her mother in a coma. As the siblings gather together to deal with the family crisis, the story of their chilhood begins to unfold. Nancy Bachrach's mother was given many "labels" over the years. bi-polar being just one. The author tells of a life lived with her quirky, intelligent mother.

As she steps into the role of her mother's caretaker, she learns to love and appreciate her. The book made me laugh at times as she wrote about Lola and her emotional ups and downs. I appreciated the honesty in the writing and look forward to reading more from Nancy Bachrach. ( )