Polar Vortex

A Family Memoir

Denise Dorrance

$42.95

Paperback

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English

Miscellaneous
05 March 2024

Graphic novels: literary & memoirs; Graphic novels: true stories & non-fiction; Age groups: the elderly; Care of the elderly; Coping with death & bereavement; Graphic Novel

What do you do when your mother can't remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, lowa, where she's hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for finding her new (and, perhaps, final) home--although insurance is running out and you might have to finally patch up your bitter relationship with your sister. And you try not to think about death, lurking around every corner . . . or the coming polar vortex, growing closer and closer as snowflakes swirl ever faster outside.

With cinematic illustrations and moving yet humorous prose, award-winning author and cartoonist Denise Dorrance shares the two most haywire months of her life: the phone call after her mother is discovered lying confused on the living room floor, the mingled shock and familiarity of a harsh Midwestern midwinter, the attempt to settle her homesick mother into a care facility, the limiting and limitless inanities of the US health care system, and the impossible decisions about what comes next. Incorporating vintage postcards, photographs, and letters, Dorrance brilliantly captures the sadness, frustration, and gallows humor of suddenly having to care for an aging parent and facing the moment of transition between life as you've long known it and life as it must become.

By: Denise Dorrance
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 162mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 517g
ISBN: 9781615199051
ISBN 10: 1615199055
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 05 March 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

American-born cartoonist and illustrator Denise Dorrance worked in magazines in New York for twelve years (including at Cosmopolitan under Helen Gurley Brown) before moving to London in 1993. Her cartoons have run for decades in many publications, including the Mail on Sunday (UK). Polar Vortex is her first graphic novel. In the UK, it was shortlisted for the 2020 Myriad First Graphic Novel competition and won the LDComics 2020 Rosalind B. Penfold Prize.

Reviews for Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir

"Dorrance's upbeat, airy linework packs an unsuspecting emotional wallop . . . A delicately drawn, unconventional chronicle of loss.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" Winner of the LDComics Rosalind B. Penfold Prize Short-listed for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition ""With gallows humor, visual ingenuity, and a whole lot of heart, Dorrance chronicles the two chilling months she returned home to care for her ailing mother--while a literal polar vortex looms in the background. --Oprah Daily Unsparingly honest and with an eye that refuses to waver, Denise Dorrance's graphic novel Polar Vortex is utterly original and unique, managing to both transcend and subvert its genre. Dorrance has rendered a story of geriatric elder care into something edgy, beautiful, visceral, irreverent and yet ultimately universal. I cannot recommend it highly enough. --Miranda Cowley Heller, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Paper Palace"