John Thorndike’s The Last of His Mind is a work skinned in the devastating story of Alzheimer’s, but shows what an unexpected gift caregiving can be for a child who longs to understand the one who shaped so much of his own understanding of life and relationships.
In these pages, John Thorndike gives up the comforts of his normal life in Ohio to care for his father in the last year of his battle against Alzheimer’s. John takes this time to examine himself in the light of the two people who shaped him most—his proper, emotionally absent New England father and his passionate, dissatisfied mother. “No wonder I study my parents,” he says. “Within the compass of their lives, everything is foretold.”
More than anything, the author wants a peek at his father’s heart, but finds it impossible to reach through the shining armor that encases him. In the end, though, he finds that it’s not his father’s armor that shines, but his character. And in the end, the year of loneliness and frustration yields the sweetest of fruit: a softer, mended heart.
John Thorndike brings out the True by exposing the Fraud, and it’s contagious. I feel wholly exposed after reading this book, yet more able to forgive myself, to love Dad—imperfections and all, and to accept the inherently flawed but courageous effort we all make in loving those closest to us.
True, this book is about the beastliness of Alzheimer’s, but it should be read by anyone who hungers to know a parent and to find themselves healed in the acceptance of an imperfect knowledge.
Marty-
Many thanks for your review. The second and third paragraphs give a perfect description of the book: what I was trying to do with it, and what it wound up doing for me. Your whole summary would be perfect for the dusk jacket copy.
And I always love it when someone quotes one of my favorite lines from the book. In this case: “No wonder I study my parents. Within the compass of their lives, everything is foretold.”
You’re doing a great job with this website.
-John
This book was therapeutic for me. One huge conclusion I came to through reading it is that the reason I wanted to know Dad’s heart so much was precisely because I admired him. And that gives me new perspective on why people get angry at me when I don’t open up. Mirror mirror on the wall…
Thanks for spilling your guts in this piece and saving me so much needless frustration.