Photographs and Memories

Barbara Fifield
Outskirts Press (2010)
ISBN 9781432752385
Reviewed by Leslie Granier for Reader Views (06/10)


Angela Clint and her husband Kevin live in New York.  They are in their fifties and looking forward to a nice retirement within the next decade.  However, Angela’s elderly parents are having health issues, as well as problems with their other daughter Martha, and want Angela and Kevin to move to Florida to assist them.  After much debate about how much they would be giving up (having to take a loss on the value of their home and losing out on many of their retirement benefits), they decide to go.  Things do not go very well from the beginning.  Martha is out of control but her parents will not do anything to stop it.  Then Angela’s mother passes away and her father ends up in a nursing home.  To top it all off, Kevin becomes ill, leaving Angela to deal with a lot more than she bargained for.

“Photographs and Memories” is based on author Barbara Fifield's personal tragedies.  By drawing from her own experiences, she is able to strongly express the emotions of the characters.  Angela’s anger at being the reliable daughter who gives up her life for her parents is evident.  Ending up in a job at which she is overworked and underpaid only adds to her burdens.  Worrying about everyone but herself leads Angela to a state of despair and makes her realize how much of her own life she has missed.

Fifield accurately portrays the burdens and stresses of caring for others.  She shows the sacrifices that have to be made.  She also depicts the loneliness that often ensues as friendships cannot be maintained due to lack of free time.  Angela does a lot of reminiscing throughout the book about everything from her childhood to her first marriage to her children and stepchildren.  There were times within the story when it took me a while to recognize she was looking into her past.  One minute a character was dead then they appeared in later scenes.  There should have been a better way to transition between the present and the past.

“Photographs and Memories” is a poignant story.  It will resonate mainly with middle-aged females who have elderly parents or spouses for whom they are the main caregiver.

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