Marilyn Mehr

Broken Circuits: a Memoir of Alzheimer's Disease in Four Voices Marilyn Mehr

BROKEN CIRCUITS tells theheart-warming story of four adult children who have lost their connections, notonly to each other, but to a once-powerful father who is now losing his battlewith Alzheimer's Disease. While many books have beenwritten about Alzheimer's disease and dementia, few have attempted to showindividual differences in family members who cope with its eventualdevastation. The oldest child, Marilyn, a psychologist and professor, is theprimary narrator, who attempts to draw her brother and two sisters back to thefamily home; Nancy, her sister, is aUtah mother of seven, who must overcome her anger at her father's ridicule andrejection in order to care for him; Judy, her second sister, is a Texas mother of four, who avoids herparents' demands and covers her guilt with work and food; her brother, Dennis, the father of two, disappears into alcohol and regret over his years ofsacrifice to his father's business; and finally, there is Vivian. the Mormonmother, who denies the catastrophe of her husband's illness and rejects herchildren's offers of assistance; Finally, each of the family members finds away to confront the past and move forward to become a stronger and more lovingfamily. Through reading their experiences, the reader will gain newperspectives on the power of family bonds and loyalty.