The one about the Book Review/ Guest Post

                             “Scourged” by Michelle Dooley Mahon

                            A  Book Review by Richard Connolly

 There are several worthy memoirs written by authors who have watched their loved ones suffer from Alzheimer’s, most notably: “Elegy for Iris” by John Bailey and “My Journey into Alzheimer’s Disease” by Robert Davis.

“Scourged” by Michelle Dooley Mahon is another remarkable piece of work and documents her late mother Siobháns descent into Alzheimer’s.

The book’s title cleverly plays on two meanings.  The “Scourge” is Alzheimer’s, but also it is an affectionate term that Siobhan uses when referring to her daughter throughout her life.

An important aspect of Michelle’s writing, which separates it from other Alzheimer memoirs, is the unique artistry and configuration that underpins the text.  The juxtaposition of the author’s voice, in chapters beside her mothers, effectively creates a dissonance, reflecting the confused mind of someone in the grip of Dementia. 

The memoir travels backwards and forwards throughout the decades, flip flopping through time zones, switching voices from chapter to chapter as Mother and Daughter express their inner most thoughts.  Since Alzheimer’s disease affects the memory, the book’s non-linear narrative also - from a structural perspective - echoes the sense of time displacement an Alzheimer sufferer experiences.

“Fizzing synapses” is one of the brilliant phrases that Dooley-Mahon adopts, conjuring up an image of what goes on in the Alzheimer brain.

 The struggle of the synapses trying to connect is synonymous with the battle a sufferer has when trying to interact with the outside world. This is writing at its best, and it is not easy to think of another phrase that appears so simple, yet encapsulates and captures the essence of an illness so effectively.  

Shakespeare was adept at writing this way, and this memoir has a poetic, Shakespearian quality to it, examples being the rhythm of speech in the opening chapters and when Siobhan’s expresses an inner monologue while in a health facility in October 2009. The book is full of poetic language and one link that bonds mother and daughter is their love of art and literature. Siobhan possessed an intellect that was as razor sharp and quick as her daughters.  Thus it is heart rending to witness, on the page, the ravaging of Siobhan’s eloquent mind.

What is particularly poignant about “Scourged” is that the love between Michelle and her mother transcends the illness. The memoir delineates that even through adversity love blossoms and deepens. This is reminiscent of the Buddhist analogy of the lotus plant flourishing in the muck. Beauty and love often bloom where there are cracks in the darkness. As a line in the Leonard Cohen song “Anthem” goes:  - ‘There is a crack in everything. That is how the light gets in.”

 “Scourged” is an uplifting book that sparkles with wit. The author’s comedic talents are self evident (Michelle has also worked as a stand up comedienne) But on another plane it does not shirk away from the most difficult moments of illness and care giving.  Scenes include Michelle’s own frustrations, particularly when she perceives teenagers smirking, while she tends to her Mother in a supermarket toilet.

“Scourged” is also full of philosophical musings and makes reference to many of Michelle’s heroes including Terry Pratchett, who questions the role of God in the universe. Her reference to music and songs invoke the atmosphere of varying eras that play throughout the book like a musical score.

In numerous ways the book engages all the senses and is a gem that needs to be re-read several times to fully appreciate its creative genius.

Importantly it raises awareness on a deep human level, of the plight of Alzheimer’s sufferers and the effect it has upon those closest to them.  

“Scourged” is, in essence,  a highly commendable piece of literature.

Richard Connolly  - July 2016

Richard Connolly is a Teacher, Academic and Freelance Arts Journalist.  He  submits  Arts Reviews to The Wexford Echo    His essay “Determinism, Heredity, Interpellation and Societal Structures: A Depiction of a Young Man’s Form of Suicide in Billy Roche’s  “A Handful of Stars”  is published in “Masculinity in Crisis: Depictions of Modern Male Trauma in Ireland”  by  Carysfort Press Dublin



Scourged is available on Amazon and Kindle.
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Alzheimer Association of Ireland on Facebook 
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