How Lulu Lost Her Mind

How Lulu Lost Her Mind was an interesting but difficult read. It is a real world account of an adult child dealing with their parents spiraling dementia.It is written single POV with minimal emotional interaction outside the main character, her severe alzheimer mother, and a live in caregiver. She is forced into making life changing decisions about her highly successful self help business and her guilt about not taking care of her ailing mother. A mother who by all accounts, did not provide a good stable childhood for her daughter. Semi autobiographical? Clearly Ms. Gibson has first hand experience with dementia/alzheimers as evidenced by the singular subject matter. The book is a well written story that was sometimes short on continuity and color but I did enjoy the fore into a non romance genre from Ms Gibson. But be warned this is not a fun, ligthearted, comical story. More of a Where the Crawdads Sing meets Alzheimers for Dummies.The read was more like trying to push a boulder up a hill while trying to make sense of a group of batshit crazy women.

I really dislike this book, and normally I love anything by Rachel Gibson, but this one…ugh. My mom had and died from Alzheimer\’s a few years ago and I have sympathy for anyone going through that horrible disease, both them and their families, so don\’t much appreciate the fact that Lulu doesn\’t seem to respect that her mother can\’t help what\’s happened to her and can\’t control what she says or does. Yes, there are a few funny bits in the book (I\’m not even a third of a way through it, though), but they don\’t, to me, make up for what I read as disrespect toward an Alzheimer\’s victim. Each time I go upstairs to read, I look at the book and sigh, not excited about picking it up and going through what\’s been written so far. I sure hope her next book is better.

This is not your typical Rachel Gibson book! That said, I did like it. This is the story of Lou Ann, the \”Love Guru\” and head of her own multi-million dollar company, and her mother, Patricia, who is suffering from Alzheimer\’s Disease. It begins with Lou getting a call to tell her that Patricia has been \”dismissed\” from her latest care facility for \”inappropriate behavior\” and she needs to be picked up NOW. Knowing that she is not prepared to care for her mother, and that she has company responsibilities, Lou Ann hires Lindsey, a live in care nurse. All seems well, until Patricia decides she wants to go \”home\” to the old family house in the Louisiana bayou to die. Lou Ann decides she needs to prioritize her mom over her work, and off the three of them go. This is where the rest of the story plays out. Lou Ann knows she has to decide on her priorities. Will it be Mom and her craziness, or her company. Oh wait, she can do both! As Lou Ann learns that no, she can\’t, she tries to make her mom the center of her life, even though the only time she has been the center of her Mom\’s life is when Mom is without a man. This part of the book involves a \”fine looking\” renovations contractor, a crazed parrot, and various surprises. Ms. Gibson has evidently either lived through having a relative with Alzheimer\’s or she has done much research, since both her portrayal of Mom and daughter rings true. However, if you come to this book looking for her typical fun, romance story, you are not going to find it. Although there are light moments, it is much more serious, and more a women\’s fiction mother-daughter story. It is a good story, but not anywhere near the Rom Com for which Ms. Gibson is known.

This was the worst book I ever read.maybe while my husband had that horrible decrease maybe I should have wrote that nightmare too. How anyone could want to read it makes me understand why this world is in this shape.

Rachel Gibson is a romance writer so when you read her books you expect a nice story but the core of the story is the romance. This book is a good read but without the sparks between the male and female it does fall a bit flat. I did enjoy the mother daughter interaction and how difficult that relationship is especially when the child becomes the care giver. But next time add some spice or relabel the type of book this is since it is not romance.

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