Cartooning to be

We have seen a spate of books on aging and elderhood that are only just behind those on exercise, diet, and happiness. Just today, the NYT featured a piece on assisted suicide for older patients suffering mental health illness in Canada. Among the most famous in this genre are Atul Gwande’s Being Mortal and Roz Chast’s graphic memoir, Can’t we Talk about Something more Pleasant. Chast is funny. Yes, her 90s-something father somehow put an egg in his shirt pocket but isn’t it lucky that it is hard-boiled! Chast is unsentimental. She refuses to whitewash her relationship with her parents or to portray them as victims of a disturbed upbringing. Chast is anxious and yes, sometimes bored. But she keeps working. Sitting beside her mother in hospice, she draws, witnessing and capturing - and creating a space where she too is present.