Customer Reviews

Heavy Snow - My Father's Disappearance into Alzheimer's

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An estranged father and son are brought together by the son's caretaking duty as his father "disappears" into Alzheimer's. Though Alzheimer's brings them together, it also acts as a roadblock to reconciliation. Haugse tracks the vagaries of memory using both words and picture to illustrate the story. The present is intercut with flashbacks of childhood memories of his dad. This unusual book depicts the anguish and love that arises in dealing with Alzheimer's. Though a bittersweet memoir, the book is true to life, insightful and inspiring.

Not a picture book, not a story board, and not an illustrated novel, but a book like few others in which the artist/author shares his experience by using a rich variety of visual metaphors. A powerful story painful to read and view, but in the end Alzheimer's disease becomes more real. This book will help those whose families are touched by this illness and will aid others' understanding of it.

Mr. Haugse has depicted his personal experience with Alzheimer's in a very unique way - with a cartoon story.
Having had family experience with these issues, the story, as depicted with cartoons, made it seem even more relevant than a story with text only.
He has done an eloquent job relating his experiences.

John Haugse's drawings and narrative are an unusually affecting medium for telling the story of his relationship with his father. Heavy Snow is sure to resonate with anyone who has been estranged from a parent because of lifestyle and career choices, with anyone who has experienced the unsettling role reversal from dependent to caregiver, and especially anyone who has a parent or other loved one suffering from Alzheimer's. While the story is a painful one, it is not without humor and the revelation of the possibilities of enhanced human contact in even this most difficult of situations.

I have given this book to friends who have been comforted and learned from this depiction of a situation similar to their own.