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What we carry : a memoir / by Maya Shanbhag Lang.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : The Dial Press, [2020]Edition: First editionDescription: xiii, 266 pages ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780525512394
  • 052551239X
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Summary: "How much can you judge another woman's choices? What if that woman is your mother? Maya Lang grew up idolizing her brilliant mother, an accomplished psychologist who immigrated to the United States from India, completed her residency and earned an American medical degree--all while nurturing young children and keeping a traditional Indian home. Maya grew up with her mother's stories ringing in her ears, motivating her, encouraging her, offering solace when she needed it. But after Maya moves across the country and becomes a mother herself, everything changes. Their connection, which had once seemed so invulnerable, begins to fray. Maya's mother, once attentive and capable, becomes a grandmother who is cold and distant. As Maya herself confronts the challenges of motherhood, she realizes that the one person on whom she has always relied cannot be there for her. But she does not understand why. Maya begins to reexamine the stories of her childhood in search of answers to her questions about what is happening to her family. Who is her mother, really? Were the stories she told--about life in India, about what it means to be an immigrant in America, about what it means to be a mother--ever really true? Affecting, raw, and poetic, The Woman in the River is one woman's investigation into her mother's past, the myths she believed, the truths she learned, and her realization that being able to accept both myth and reality is what has finally brought her into adulthood. This is the story of a daughter and her mother, of lies and truths, of being cared by and caring for; it is the story of how we can never really grow up until we fully understand the people who raised us"-- Provided by publisher.
List(s) this item appears in: Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library Biography Lang, M. L271 Available 33111009818481
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography Lang, M. L271 Available 33111009635828
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Profoundly moving"-Will Schwalbe, author of The End of Your Life Book Club

"Agorgeous memoir about mothers, daughters, and the tenacity of the lovethat grows between what is said and what is left unspoken."-Mira Jacob, author of Good Talk

In caring for her aging mother and her own young daughter, writer Maya Shanbhag Lang-"a new voice of the highest caliber" (Rebecca Makkai)-confronts the legacy of family myths and how the stories shared between parents and children reverberate through generations- a deeply moving memoir about immigrants and their native-born children, the complicated love between mothers and daughters, and the discovery of strength.

How much can you judge another woman's choices? What if that woman is your mother?

Maya Shanbhag Lang grew up idolizing her brilliant mother, an accomplished physician who immigrated to the United States from India and completed her residency, all while raising her children and keeping a traditional Indian home. She had always been a source of support-until Maya became a mother herself. Then, the parent who had once been so capable and attentive turned unavailable and distant. Struggling to understand this abrupt change while raising her own young child, Maya searches for answers and soon learns that her mother is living with Alzheimer's

WhenMayasteps in to care for her, shecomes to realize that despite their closeness, she never really knew her mother.Were her cherished stories-about life in India, about what it means to be an immigrant, about motherhood itself-even true? Affecting, raw, and poetic, What We Carry is the story of a daughter and her mother, of lies and truths, of receiving and giving care-and how we cannot grow up until we fully understand the people who raised us.

"How much can you judge another woman's choices? What if that woman is your mother? Maya Lang grew up idolizing her brilliant mother, an accomplished psychologist who immigrated to the United States from India, completed her residency and earned an American medical degree--all while nurturing young children and keeping a traditional Indian home. Maya grew up with her mother's stories ringing in her ears, motivating her, encouraging her, offering solace when she needed it. But after Maya moves across the country and becomes a mother herself, everything changes. Their connection, which had once seemed so invulnerable, begins to fray. Maya's mother, once attentive and capable, becomes a grandmother who is cold and distant. As Maya herself confronts the challenges of motherhood, she realizes that the one person on whom she has always relied cannot be there for her. But she does not understand why. Maya begins to reexamine the stories of her childhood in search of answers to her questions about what is happening to her family. Who is her mother, really? Were the stories she told--about life in India, about what it means to be an immigrant in America, about what it means to be a mother--ever really true? Affecting, raw, and poetic, The Woman in the River is one woman's investigation into her mother's past, the myths she believed, the truths she learned, and her realization that being able to accept both myth and reality is what has finally brought her into adulthood. This is the story of a daughter and her mother, of lies and truths, of being cared by and caring for; it is the story of how we can never really grow up until we fully understand the people who raised us"-- Provided by publisher.

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