Austin Chapter
Reader's Guide
August 2004
The House on Beartown Road: A Memoir of Learning and Forgetting
Elizabeth Cohen
In this moving yet unsentimental memoir, Cohen chronicles the year her aging father, Sanford, suffering from mid-to-late-stage Alzheimer's, came to live with her and her baby, Ava, in a New York State farmhouse. The three endure a cold winter, Ava's teething and the ravages of Alzheimer's...
- What experiences with/knowledge about Alzheimer's disease did you have before reading the book?
- What did the author have "going for" her in the situation as it developed?
- What is your reaction to the "Memory Project"?
- How does the movie "The Notebook" (now showing in town) compare to this story?
- What does the father's computer illiteracy, and his pride in that, signify to you?
- What have you learned from this story? What do you think Elizabeth Cohen learned?
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