Chasing Mother: A Memoir

It is an upside-down childhood. Monique’s mother, "Maria," is a beautiful, magnetic, dizzyingly smart woman. And she's an unsolvable Rubik’s Cube who believes her life is a never-ending one-act play, with just one character. Vacillating between her many roles—doting mother, long-suffering saint, victim of everyone (especially her unbalanced psychiatrist ex-husband)—she is willing to act for any audience, including her six children. In this vibrant memoir, Monique Parrish chronicles Maria’s profound neglect, indifference, and manipulation—and her own decades-long chase to win her mother’s love. Once Monique makes the difficult decision to separate herself from her mother, she realizes that while she will never matter to her mother, she matters to herself. In finally making this break, she also comes to own and embrace the scars of her childhood, discovering in the process that they represent her strength, survival, and courage.