The Asparagus Wars

by Carol Major

A deeply moving memoir about the battles waged against terminal illness and a mother’s struggle to comprehend the battlefield in its wake. While some family members wage war against her daughter’s disease with natural therapies, and doctors fight on using the latest developments in medical science, she longs to take her daughter to Paris instead, the city that inspired the young woman’s writing and art.

The Asparagus Wars asks questions about notions of victory at all costs. Shot through with fearless wit and resonant description, this story will break your heart but leave you richer for the experience.

Genres: Memoir

228 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2021

Reviews

[Sarah Bacaller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol Ann Major has written a moving memoir. The story is a wandering journey through the grief of losing her daughter to cancer and muscular dystrophy—a loss that is tied to so many other losses. Raw, poignant and thoughtfully structured, Major is searching as she weaves a narrative of coherence amidst the incoherence of tragedy. Her memories are refracted through prisms of current experience, which cast light on past interactions in new ways.

Structured as letters to her daughter, this is an authentic journey; Major's story gives insight into many important social issues—not forcefully or bullishly, but through gentle authenticity and the author's compassion. These social issues include (but aren't limited to) disability and dignity, war and fear, family and freedom, illness and agency, tragedy and meaning. A moving and heart-expanding story. I listened to the audiobook and Major's narration was very well done.

[Charlotte SexSmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol's book is tender, thought provoking and filled with wonderful images. I felt that I was right beside her in her journey through her life. I could "see" Monica, her Ballet Slippers, listen to her own hopes for her life. Carol's journey to France, in an effort to grieve for Monica, is so personal, and I felt that she was searching for something but knew not what. I understood her references to her second home of Canada - the snow, the crispness of Autumn. Carol Major is a wonderful woman, and a terrific author. She is also a friend of mine from decades ago, when we were very young girls at a pivotal time in our lives. No one reading Carol's lovely book could possibly be disappointed.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much terrain covered in this memoir - literally in the three countries the author has called home -but also her grief-filled sojourn near the battlefields and graveyards of World War 1 France after the death of her beloved daughter. A testament to those who fought and those who fled the distant conflict informs the present day familial battle raging around the passionate, funny, artistic daughter who fights so hard for her own tilt at life. A surprisingly clear-eyed journey through grief in which no-one's foibles are spared; but then there is also great tenderness, hilarity and unexpected reconciliation.

[Joyce]

This is a very beautiful book-- the writing, the depth of heart, the wisdom. It will move and enrich you.

[Ruth Le Cheminant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved The Asparagus Wars, it’s special, a unique book. The writing and the story captured and held me. The writing is wonderful. As the reader I was completely absorbed in the book, the magic of the writing and how the story is told. I lost myself in The Asparagus Wars and savoured reading it. I haven’t got the words to fully explain the wonderful impact of this book on me. The story stays with me. I recommend you read it. It’s a slice of awesome!

[Tahmour Bloomfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poetic, raw, humble story that made me laugh out loud, and weep tears. Read it when you need courage, read it when you need to sob, or read it because you can't travel anywhere and this is a good alternative.

[Lee Kofman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem. A poetically structured memoir written as a collection of letters to Carol’s dead daughter. Despite the tragic territory Carol covers, she somehow manages to remain distant enough; and yet not too much to seem remote. Her portrayal of her daughter is unsentimental, and endlessly moving and loving. The greatest strength of the book for me was how Carol expressed a big part of the emotional truth of her work by marrying her personal story with the those of the world war one soldiers. This at once specific and metaphorical retelling of what happened to her and her family is original and artful.

[Roger Yeo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The memoir immediately caught my attention and I was totally absorbed in the narrative from the beginning to the end. The author’s method of exploring grief is devastating but at the same time comforting. This memoir is an inspiring way for a Mother to demonstrate her total love and devotion to her daughter. Carol Major is a very gifted writer.

[Rhoda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Spineless Wonders for sending me a copy of this book to review!

This touching memoir is written in the form of letters from the author to her daughter who has passed after a lifetime of health issues and a terminal illness. It covers the way family members dealt with the illness - some waging war with natural therapies and others relying more on advances in medical science.

The writing is interwoven with snippets of the author’s current life, where she is in France struggling to piece her life back together.

While I appreciated the obvious love and struggle that is inherent in this book, I’m afraid the writing style didn’t resonate with me very well. I found the constant switching of past and present perspectives jarring, as it would switch frequently, from one paragraph to another.

I also didn’t particularly enjoy the parts set in France and would have liked to have seen more words dedicated to fleshing out the characters of her family members, as I found them a little vague and was unable to feel much emotion for any of them.

Having said that, I do feel that this is a very heartfelt memoir and may appeal to readers who have also experienced a loss such as this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.

[Nic · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Asparagus Wars is a beautifully written memoir, presented in the heartbreaking style of letters from a mother to her daughter who has since past away from a terminal illness.

Unfortunately this book didn’t quite hold my attention like I was expecting. The first half was written in a bit of an abstract way, which although was a little confusing, also intrigued me. However by the end, I hadn’t been able to connect with the characters as much as I would’ve liked, and so it didn’t pull at my heartstrings in the sadder moments.

I’d recommend this book to those who enjoy slower, literary memoirs.

[Connie Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follow one woman’s journey as she navigates her way through social and legal minefields laid by those who make the rules forcing her to make painful, impossible choices along the way. The reader will ride an emotional roller coaster and will be changed by the experience.

[Anni Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, poignant and poetic. A mother’s deeply felt memoir of love and loss of a daughter, set amongst the battle fields of France. It’s a book to be read slowly, savoured, even through the content is very painful to read, in parts.

[Bronwyn]

Exceptional.

[Wendy Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

To come.