What happens when love is no longer enough? Jane Bernstein thought that learning to accept her daughter’s disabilities meant her struggles were over. But as Rachel grew up and needed more than a parent’s devotion, both mother and daughter were confronted with formidable obstacles. Rachel in the World, which begins in Rachel’s fifth year and ends when she turns twenty-two, tells of their barriers and successes with the same honesty and humor that made Loving Rachel, Bernstein’s first memoir, a classic in its field. The linked accounts in part 1 center on family issues, social services, experiences with caregivers, and Rachel herself--difficult, charming, hard to fathom, eager for her own independence. The second part of the book chronicles Bernstein’s attempt to find Rachel housing at a time when over 200,000 Americans with mental retardation were on waiting lists for residential services. As Rachel prepares to leave her mother’s constant protection, Bernstein invites the reader to share the frustrations and unexpected pleasures of finding a place for her daughter, first in her family, and then in the world.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Jane Bernstein’s Rachel in the World is a remarkable book about tough love--about the many challenges of raising a child with special needs, and about the woeful inadequacy of terms like ‘special needs.’ It is a fearlessly honest book about disability and family life, in which children with disabilities are not heaven’s special angels, and in which children with disabilities grow up to be adults with disabilities. It is a necessary book, in which parents of children with disabilities worry about the world of social services and group homes and uncomprehending strangers. And it is a bracing book that reminds us how tough a parent’s love can be-- and how the power of love can sustain us in even the toughest times.”
--Michael Bérubé
Book Description
What happens when love is no longer enough? Jane Bernstein thought that learning to accept her daughter’s disabilities meant her struggles were over. But as Rachel grew up and needed more than a parent’s devotion, both mother and daughter were confronted with formidable obstacles. Rachel in the World, which begins in Rachel’s fifth year and ends when she turns twenty-two, tells of their barriers and successes with the same honesty and humor that made Loving Rachel, Bernstein’s first memoir, a classic in its field. The linked accounts in part 1 center on family issues, social services, experiences with caregivers, and Rachel herself--difficult, charming, hard to fathom, eager for her own independence. The second part of the book chronicles Bernstein’s attempt to find Rachel housing at a time when over 200,000 Americans with mental retardation were on waiting lists for residential services. As Rachel prepares to leave her mother’s constant protection, Bernstein invites the reader to share the frustrations and unexpected pleasures of finding a place for her daughter, first in her family, and then in the world.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Book,
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This review is from: Rachel in the World: A Memoir (Hardcover)
I so admire this book and author. There hasn't been enough written about the transition to adulthood for people with cognitive disabilities. Here we get an honest, incredibly well-told story of a complex, ever-shifting mother-daughter relationship. The book has room for ambivalence, contradiction, determination, despair--all of the things that make life, well, life. If, as the parent of a child with a disability, you find yourself stretching to the point of elasticity, giving even beyond the fact of total depletion, and then, the very next moment, wanting more for yourself, not to mention more FROM your child, this book is for you. It's lyrical candor will disarm you exactly as it provides the only solace that is credible.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Astonishing,
By JT "ultimato" (NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rachel in the World: A Memoir (Hardcover)
I've long been a fan of Bernstein's work, from her novels to her scorchingly brave memoir about her sister's murder, Bereft. Rachel in the World shows the same kind of bravery. This is no treacly feel-good tome about what it is like to raise a special needs daughter and send her out in the world. Instead, Bernstein shows both her love and her irritation, and her anger at a system that doesn't exactly make it easy to do what is best for Rachel. Beautifully written and filled with photos that are like prose poems.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
remarkable portrayal,
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This review is from: Rachel in the World: A Memoir (Hardcover)
Once again Jane Bernstein has achieved a remarkable portrayal, adeptly balancing her intensely personal feelings with an objective view of Rachel, her mentally retarded daughter (a description Bernstein sometimes finds more appropriate than the more politically correct euphemism of "intellectually impaired"). The Rachel we met as a little girl in Loving Rachel, Bernstein's moving account of discovering her daughter's mental and physical liabilities, has grown into a young adult, craving freedom and independence in the "real world" beyond the safe haven her mother has spent years developing. Bernstein's experience of wading through the labyrinth of "the system" in order to achieve her goal of finding the right living situation for Rachel proves to be confounding and frustrating, and as social services cuts become more frequent, even scary. Add to that Rachel's own conflicted emotions, along with her constant chattering and insatiable demands, and it seems inevitable that Bernstein will succumb to the overwhelming pressures of her role as Rachel's protector and provider, while at the same time trying to maintain her own sanity. But in her own inimical fashion, and written with the honesty that she is famous for, Bernstein proves that she is up to the task, even if at times she doubts her own strength and fortitude. On the surface a story about a young woman facing a life she may not be ready for, Rachel in the World is really about the love of a mother for her daughter. And I can't wait for Rachel to grow older so Bernstein can write the next chapter in their lives.
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wraparound services, hab aides, base service unit, supports coordinator Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Jersey, Sycamore Street, New York, Tel Aviv, United States, Penn Hills, Where's Rose, Betty Jean, Children's Institute, Free Cell, Barbara Milch, Squirrel Hill, Hello Rachel, Ehle House, Michael Stoehr New!
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