Ladysitting: My Year with Nana at the End of Her Century

ISBN: 0393635880

Author: Cary, Lorene

Condition: New

Lorene Carys grandmother moves in, and everything changes: day-to-day life, family relationships, the Nana she knew-even their shared past.From cherished memories of weekends she spent as a child with her indulgent Nana to the reality of the year she spent ladysitting her now frail grandmother, Lorene Cary journeys through stories of their time together and five generations of their African American family. Brilliantly weaving a narrative of her complicated yet transformative relationship with Nana-a fierce, stubborn, and independent woman, who managed a business until she was 100-Cary looks at Nanas impulse to control people and fate, from the early death of her mother and oppression in the Jim Crow South to living on her own in her New Jersey home.Cary knew there might be some reckonings to come. Nana was a force: Her obstinacy could come out in unanticipated ways-secretly getting a drivers license to show up her husband, carrying on a longtime feud with Carys father. But Nana could also be devoted: to Nanas father, to black causes, and-Cary had thought-to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Facing the inevitable end raises tensions, with Cary drawing on her spirituality and Nana consoling herself with late-night sweets and the loyalty of caregivers. When Nana doubts Carys dedication, Cary must go deeper into understanding this complicated woman.In Ladysitting, Cary captures the ruptures, love, and, perhaps, forgiveness that can occur in a family as she bears witness to her grandmothers 101 vibrant years of life.