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The Long Hello: Memory, My Mother, and Me
A powerful, ground-shifting account of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's about which Maya Angelou exclaimed, "Joy!"
Since Cathie Borrie delivered her keynote performance at the World Alzheimer's Day event sponsored by the Community and Access Programs of the Museum of Modern Art, her self-published manuscript has won rapturous praise from noted writers and Alzheimer's experts alike, from Maya Angelou, Lisa Genova, and Molly Peacock to Dr. Bill Thomas, Jed A. Levine of the Alzheimer's Association, NYC, and Meryl Comer of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative. Now it is available to the general public for the first time in a trade edition.
The Long Hello distills the seven years the author spent caring for her mother into a page-turning memoir that offers insight into the "altering world of the dementia mind." During that time, Borrie recorded brief conversations she had with her mother that revealed the transformations within—and sometimes yielded an almost Zenlike poetry. She includes selections from them in chapters about her experience that are as evocative as diary entries. Her mother was the emotional pillar and sometime breadwinner in a home touched by a birth father's alcoholism, a brother's early death, divorce, and a stepfather's remoteness. In Borrie's spare prose, her mother's story becomes a family's story as well a deeply loving portrait that embraces life.
Since Cathie Borrie delivered her keynote performance at the World Alzheimer's Day event sponsored by the Community and Access Programs of the Museum of Modern Art, her self-published manuscript has won rapturous praise from noted writers and Alzheimer's experts alike, from Maya Angelou, Lisa Genova, and Molly Peacock to Dr. Bill Thomas, Jed A. Levine of the Alzheimer's Association, NYC, and Meryl Comer of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative. Now it is available to the general public for the first time in a trade edition.
The Long Hello distills the seven years the author spent caring for her mother into a page-turning memoir that offers insight into the "altering world of the dementia mind." During that time, Borrie recorded brief conversations she had with her mother that revealed the transformations within—and sometimes yielded an almost Zenlike poetry. She includes selections from them in chapters about her experience that are as evocative as diary entries. Her mother was the emotional pillar and sometime breadwinner in a home touched by a birth father's alcoholism, a brother's early death, divorce, and a stepfather's remoteness. In Borrie's spare prose, her mother's story becomes a family's story as well a deeply loving portrait that embraces life.
- GenresAudiobook
176 pages, Paperback
Published June 19, 2018
About the author
Cathie Borrie
5 books23 followersNEWS!
"the long hello" USA release date April 19th, 2016 with ARCADE PUBLISHING (SKYHORSE).
CBC Broadcaster extraordinaire, GRANT LAWRENCE chooses "THE LONG HELLO" as one of the BEST books of 2015, by local authors!
http://www.westender.com/news-issues/...
SIMON & SCHUSTER CANADA, January, 2015
A powerful, ground-shifting account of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's about which Maya Angelou exclaimed, "Joy!"
Since Cathie Borrie delivered her keynote performance at the World Alzheimer's Day event sponsored by the Community and Access Programs of the Museum of Modern Art, her self-published manuscript has won rapturous praise from noted writers and Alzheimer's experts alike, from Maya Angelou, Lisa Genova, and Molly Peacock to Dr. Bill Thomas, Jed A. Levine of the Alzheimer's Association, NYC, and Meryl Comer of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative. Now it is available to the general public for the first time in a trade edition.
The Long Hello distills the seven years the author spent caring for her mother into a page-turning memoir that offers insight into the "altering world of the dementia mind." During that time, Borrie recorded brief conversations she had with her mother that revealed the transformations within—and sometimes yielded an almost Zenlike poetry. She includes selections from them in chapters about her experience that are as evocative as diary entries. Her mother was the emotional pillar and sometime breadwinner in a home touched by a birth father's alcoholism, a brother's early death, divorce, and a stepfather's remoteness. In Borrie's spare prose, her mother's story becomes a family's story as well a deeply loving portrait that embraces life.
Written in spare, beautiful prose, largely in the form of a dialogue, The Long Hello exquisitely captures the intricacies and nuances of a daughter’s relationship with her mother. -
See more at:
http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=5...
Born in Vancouver, Cathie has had an extensive and diverse working life which includes careers in health, law and business. Most recently, she obtained a Certificate in Creative Writing from Simon Fraser University. Beginning as a nurse, she went on to attain a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, graduated from Law School at the University of Saskatchewan.
Currently she is the writer, artistic director, and one of the performers of concerts based on text from THE LONG HELLO, which includes a musician.
Excerpts from her book, The Long Hello, have been shortlisted three times in the CBC Literary Awards. In 2010, Cathie was invited to speak and launch her books at MoMA in NYC for World Alzheimer’s Day.
The Long Hello is a lyrical memoir which reads like fiction and appeals to a wide ranging audience interested in the universal themes of love, family, and memory - their twists and turns.
Cathie and award winning playwright and director, James Fagan Tait have adapted "The Long Hello" for the stage.
"the long hello" USA release date April 19th, 2016 with ARCADE PUBLISHING (SKYHORSE).
CBC Broadcaster extraordinaire, GRANT LAWRENCE chooses "THE LONG HELLO" as one of the BEST books of 2015, by local authors!
http://www.westender.com/news-issues/...
SIMON & SCHUSTER CANADA, January, 2015
A powerful, ground-shifting account of caring for a parent with Alzheimer's about which Maya Angelou exclaimed, "Joy!"
Since Cathie Borrie delivered her keynote performance at the World Alzheimer's Day event sponsored by the Community and Access Programs of the Museum of Modern Art, her self-published manuscript has won rapturous praise from noted writers and Alzheimer's experts alike, from Maya Angelou, Lisa Genova, and Molly Peacock to Dr. Bill Thomas, Jed A. Levine of the Alzheimer's Association, NYC, and Meryl Comer of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer's Initiative. Now it is available to the general public for the first time in a trade edition.
The Long Hello distills the seven years the author spent caring for her mother into a page-turning memoir that offers insight into the "altering world of the dementia mind." During that time, Borrie recorded brief conversations she had with her mother that revealed the transformations within—and sometimes yielded an almost Zenlike poetry. She includes selections from them in chapters about her experience that are as evocative as diary entries. Her mother was the emotional pillar and sometime breadwinner in a home touched by a birth father's alcoholism, a brother's early death, divorce, and a stepfather's remoteness. In Borrie's spare prose, her mother's story becomes a family's story as well a deeply loving portrait that embraces life.
Written in spare, beautiful prose, largely in the form of a dialogue, The Long Hello exquisitely captures the intricacies and nuances of a daughter’s relationship with her mother. -
See more at:
http://www.arcadepub.com/book/?GCOI=5...
Born in Vancouver, Cathie has had an extensive and diverse working life which includes careers in health, law and business. Most recently, she obtained a Certificate in Creative Writing from Simon Fraser University. Beginning as a nurse, she went on to attain a Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, graduated from Law School at the University of Saskatchewan.
Currently she is the writer, artistic director, and one of the performers of concerts based on text from THE LONG HELLO, which includes a musician.
Excerpts from her book, The Long Hello, have been shortlisted three times in the CBC Literary Awards. In 2010, Cathie was invited to speak and launch her books at MoMA in NYC for World Alzheimer’s Day.
The Long Hello is a lyrical memoir which reads like fiction and appeals to a wide ranging audience interested in the universal themes of love, family, and memory - their twists and turns.
Cathie and award winning playwright and director, James Fagan Tait have adapted "The Long Hello" for the stage.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 6, 2019
This short book may not be entirely what you expect. Therefore there will be parts of it that may not do anything for you. Because I have a mother who is advancing in dementia, I was most engaged by the transcriptions of conversations she had with her mother - the confusion, the increasing presence of 'word salad' were quite familiar. Because I am NOT providing care to my mother, I also felt guilty that I wasn't doing for my mother what she did for hers, but at the same time it clearly ate her alive and I don't think I could survive that. I was less interested in the background about her childhood, her older brother, how she's tried to make a life and career for herself, although it did serve to make sense of conversations with her mother. I found the book worthwhile as a snapshot of a mind failing into dementia.
April 4, 2021
While some have panned it because of the back and forth and difficulty following, this is a poignant story of a person losing their mother, not just once, but two times. The chaos of the timeline is all too familiar to anyone who has cared for a person with Alzheimer’s. Not just visitors, but spent many hours in a day and over the course of years. What was striking to me is maybe the author is attempting to come to terms with her own life; the guilt, loss of a childhood, her brother, etc. is so telling. A good read but much different than expected.
January 7, 2026
This book is sweet and short and details the end of life care of the author's mother. This book reminded me of the end of life care of my grandmother, who would say and do similar things. This book is a sweet dedication to the author's mother, and narrates the bittersweet-ness of end of life care and dementia: the highs and the lows. I really enjoyed this read, and I think those who have gone through/witness a similar scenario would enjoy this.
April 19, 2021
This might be the only dementia caregiver narrative I've read that I would recommend as just an excellent book for any reader.
September 7, 2022
3.75 rounded up
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews