Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
April 2001
Remind Me Who I Am, Again
by Linda Grant
- Grant mentions several times that when she is old she will have her Mother's disease. What do you think causes her to think this?
- Grant says in the Afterword that sitting at the keyboard writing was not therapeutic; however, she does believe that there was some reconciliation when she read the material afterward when she thought about what she wished she had said. It does seem that Grant comes to know herself better through her understanding of her Mother's past. Cite some examples.
- Compare Grant's parents to their parents and Grant to her parents.
- Part of Rose Grant's struggle (apparently throughout her life) was to create an identity. How does she do it prior to her illness? After the onset of the illness? How does this affect Linda?
- How does Grant deal with trying to understand what part of her Mother's actions are related to memory loss and which are her basic personality?
- Characterize Grant's relationship with her Mother prior to and after the illness.
- On page 28 Grant writes: ". . .without the past we're nothing, we belong to nobody." In the next chapter on page 30, she states "Cancer is cancer but when you lose your memory the whole family goes down with it and you must do what you can to reclaim yourselves from oblivion." She then goes on to state on page 31 that "...in my mother's case was that in her brain resided the very last links with her generation." Do you think Grant feels strongly about family history, or is it more than that?
- Grant and her Mother never seemed to have a good relationship except when they were shopping! Is this just a genetic coincidence? Do you think this lack of a loving relationship helped or hindered Grant in dealing with the dementia?