I Like You Just Fine When You're Not Around
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4.1 • 19 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
USA Today bestseller
"I was intrigued by the strength of the main character, Tig Monahan, whose life begins to unravel as she comes to terms with her mother's advancing Alzheimer's. Though Tig makes mistake after mistake, she never gives up. As the chapters flew by, I laughed, I cried, I smiled. And when I turned the last page. I found myself feeling proud of Tig and looking up to her unwavering hope and strength of spirit." --First for Women
"It's not enough that Ann Garvin is hilarious. Then she has to go ahead and be compassionate and wise about the hopeful car-wreck that is most of humanity..." --Michelle Wildgen, author of You're Not You and Bread and Butter
Everything is falling apart in psychologist Tig Monahan's life. Her mother's dementia is wearing her out; her boyfriend takes off for Hawaii without her; and her sister inexplicably disappears, leaving her newborn behind.
When a therapy session goes horribly wrong, Tig finds herself unemployed and part of the sandwich generation trying to take care of everyone and failing miserably. Just when she thinks she can redefine herself on the radio as an arbiter of fairness, she discovers a family secret that nobody saw coming.
It will take everything plus a sense of humor to see her way clear to a better life, but none of that will happen if she can't let go of her past.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Psychologist Tig Monahan is watching her mother, Hallie, slowly lose her mind to Alzheimer's. With her sister, Wendy, persistently absent, guilt-ridden Tig forgoes joining her boyfriend on sabbatical in Hawaii in order to care for her mother as Hallie enters an assisted living home. Tig, who has always been a structured, responsible caretaker, finally reaches her breaking point with everyone away; she tells off one of her clients and quits her job. After Wendy returns pregnant, the sisters reconcile and Tig decides to go start working on the radio as an on-air counselor. At first it's a routine gig, but her stability is questioned again when a client decides to sue. Taking stock of recent turmoil, Tig comes to realize that her fastidious personality may be more like her mother then she cares to admit, and it may be time for a change. Garvin's wit and sensitivity keep her in full control of the emotional subject matter. Pinpoint details and realistic characterizations of Tig's internal strife firmly situate readers in this eccentric, endearing story of a family coming together to face the ravages of Alzheimer's.
Customer Reviews
I
It was good but not funny. It left a cliffhanger about who Tig's father is. Great beach summer read.