TWO WOMEN WALK INTO A BAR

Author Cheryl Strayed traces her emotions in both the text and narration of her short memoir, which revolves around the death of her mother-in-law, Joan. From the start, irony is emblematic of their relationship. Their first meeting is in a bar, where Strayed, a 27-year-old waitress, guesses--wrongly--which one of a trio of women is the mother of her boyfriend. She covers a lot of ground in this short essay, both in feelings and time, as she writes of Joan's final days. She connects Joan's unintended hurtful comments with her sorrow over raising her children without the support of her mother, whom she'd adored and had lost two decades before. Strayed describes emotional distances and intimacies, and, most important, the healing that comes in final farewells. S.W. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2023]