Polar Vortex: A Family Memoir

What do you do when your mother can’t remember who you are? You catch the first flight from your adopted home of London to your original hometown of Cedar Rapids, lowa, where she’s hospitalized, injured, and struggling with the swirling disorientation of dementia. You take responsibility for finding her new (and, perhaps, final) home–although insurance is running out and you might have to finally patch up your bitter relationship with your sister. And you try not to think about death, lurking around every corner . . . or the coming polar vortex, growing closer and closer as snowflakes swirl ever faster outside.

With cinematic illustrations and moving yet humorous prose, award-winning author and cartoonist Denise Dorrance shares the two most haywire months of her life: the phone call after her mother is discovered lying confused on the living room floor, the mingled shock and familiarity of a harsh Midwestern midwinter, the attempt to settle her homesick mother into a care facility, the limiting and limitless inanities of the US health care system, and the impossible decisions about what comes next. Incorporating vintage postcards, photographs, and letters, Dorrance brilliantly captures the sadness, frustration, and gallows humor of suddenly having to care for an aging parent and facing the moment of transition between life as you’ve long known it and life as it must become.

Review Quotes:
Dorrance’s upbeat, airy linework packs an unsuspecting emotional wallop . . . A delicately drawn, unconventional chronicle of loss.– \”Kirkus Reviews\”

Review Quotes:
Gentle lines, soft color palette, and quippy narration bring a sense of comfort and familiarity to the bittersweet story of family, memory, and the inevitability of loss. Dorrance demystifies the challenges of elder care with this sensitive snapshot of the many ways in which memory shapes family history.– \”Publishers Weekly\”

Review Quotes:
A pitch-perfect piece of work–frank and self-critical narration, incorporating photos and postcards, dread-drenched pacing, and beautifully limpid blue-gray/russet art. . . . Dorrance’s gorgeous, plaintive story speaks to those caring for aging parents and realizing they must eventually prepare for their own exits. A lyrical read-alike for Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast.–Library Journal, starred review

Brief Description:
\”A graphic of two whirlwind months in the life of the author, when she suddenly has to care for her dementia-impaired mother, whose last home she urgently needs to find\”–

Review Quotes:
Raw, funny, heartbreaking and brilliantly simple: Like all great art, Polar Vortex devastates in the deepest way. I can’t wait to give this beautiful book to everyone I know.–Sarah Blake, New York Times-bestselling author of The Postmistress and The Guest Book

Review Quotes:
An honest, affecting graphic memoir about a messy series of compromises and reconciliations accompanying end-of-life caregiving.– \”Foreword\”

Review Quotes:
Winner of the LDComics Rosalind B. Penfold Prize
Short-listed for the Myriad First Graphic Novel Competition

\”With gallows humor, visual ingenuity, and a whole lot of heart, Dorrance chronicles the two chilling months she returned home to care for her ailing mother–while a literal polar vortex looms in the background.–Oprah Daily

Format: Paperback
Pages: 256
Imprint: Experiment LLC, USA
Publication date: 05/03/2024