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Be with : letters to a caregiver

Barnes, Mike 1955- (Author).

Be With: Letters to a Caregiver is what its straightforward title promises: 4 letters to a long-term dementia caregiver, drawing on Barne's own years of caring for his mother Mary through the stages of moderate, severe, very severe, and late stage Alzheimer's. The book is short: the letters range from 2,500 to 7,000 words, and are written in short takes of a few lines or paragraphs. It is meant to be a dippable source of clarity and solace, while also telling a compelling personal story. It is designed for harried caregivers who might have time for a 2-line section, or a 20-line, or one letter, or the whole thing. Be With balances candour about the devastations of dementia with insights into its paradoxical and indeed often uncanny enhancements of life, the ways in which it sometimes calls forth capacities long buried by the defenses of full cognition. In the words of the book itself: "All people with dementia, and some of them strikingly, show depths of sensitive awareness, resilience rising to heroism, and a capacity for joyful relatedness that is almost totally missing from public discussions of their condition." The two-word title encapsulates the book's core emphasis on fellowship and accurate witness: to simply be with who, and what, is actually before us.

Book  - 2018
362.14 Bar
1 copy / 0 on hold

Available Copies by Location

Location
Victoria Available

Browse Related Items

  • ISBN: 9781771962438
  • Physical Description print
    149 pages ; 18 cm
  • Edition First edition.
  • Publisher [Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 2018.

Additional Information

Syndetic Solutions - Summary for ISBN Number 9781771962438
Be With : Letters to a Caregiver
Be With : Letters to a Caregiver
by Barnes, Mike
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Be With : Letters to a Caregiver


SHORTLISTED FOR THE TORONTO BOOK AWARD AS SEEN ON GLOBAL NEWS TV'S THE MORNING SHOW A CBC CANADIAN BOOK TO READ FOR MENTAL HEALTH WEEK Drawing on the author's seven years of caring for his mother through Alzheimer's, Be With: Letters to a Caregiver is what its title promises: four dispatches to an anonymous long-term caregiver. In brief passages that cast fresh light on what it means to live with dementia, Barnes shares trials, insights, solace--and, ultimately, inspiration. Meant to be a companion in waiting rooms, on bus routes, or while a loved one naps, Be With is a dippable source of clarity for harried readers who might only have time for a few lines or paragraphs. Mike Barnes writes with sensitivity and grace about fellowship, responsibility, and joyful relatedness--what it means to simply be with the people that we love.