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Roz Chast
presents
Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?:
A Memoir
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT
This event includes a book signing
DateMay
7
Wednesday
May 7, 2014 6:00 PM ET |
LocationBrattle Theatre
40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138 |
Tickets
SOLD OUT. View our Sold Out Event FAQ.
|
Harvard Book Store is pleased to welcome New Yorker cartoonist and author ROZ CHAST for a presentation of Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?: A Memoir.
When it came to her elderly mother and father, Roz held to the practices of denial, avoidance, and distraction. But when Elizabeth Chast climbed a ladder to locate an old souvenir from the “crazy closet”—with predictable results—the tools that had served Roz well through her parents’ seventies, eighties, and into their early nineties could no longer be deployed.
While the particulars are Chast-ian in their idiosyncrasies—an anxious father who had relied heavily on his wife for stability as he slipped into dementia and a former assistant principal mother whose overbearing personality had sidelined Roz for decades—the themes are universal: adult children accepting a parental role; aging and unstable parents leaving a family home for an institution; dealing with uncomfortable physical intimacies; managing logistics; and hiring strangers to provide the most personal care.
“If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of Roz Chast’s quavery, quietly desperate, antimacassar-bestrewn universe, look no further. This grim, sidesplitting memoir about the slow decline of her meek father and overpowering mother explains it all. Bedsores, dementia, broken hips—no details are spared, and never has the abyss of dread and grief been plumbed to such incandescently hilarious effect. The lines between laughter and hysteria, despair and rage, love and guilt, are quavery indeed, and no one draws them more honestly, more…unscrimpingly, than Roz Chast.” —Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home and Are You My Mother?
Tickets for this event are sold out. Please view our Sold Out Event FAQ for more information.
TICKET HOLDERS: Please note that your ticket ONLY guarantees you admission until five minutes before an event begins. Additionally, tickets purchased online may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. $5 tickets are also coupons, good for $5 off an in-store purchase at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire one month after the event, and cannot be used for online purchases, event tickets, discounted items, or gift certificates.
All ticket purchases are non-refundable.
Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 10 minutes
As you exit the station, cross Mass. Ave. and proceed along Brattle St. Follow Brattle St. as it curves to the right in Brattle Square (follow the sidewalk on the right side of the street). The Brattle will be on the left-hand side of the street. The building is shared with Algiers Cafe and Alden & Harlow Restaurant, and the theatre entrance is on the left side of the building—look for the sidewalk poster case and marquee.
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