Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?

In “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?,” the cartoonist-philosoph, Roz Chast, reminds us how deftly the graphic novel can capture ordinary crises in ordinary American lives, how a mixture of cartoons and photographs and text can create a family portrait with all the intimacy and emotional power of a conventional prose memoir.

The portrait of filial love and duty in “Can’t We Talk” will resonate with baby boomers grappling with their own aging parents — from worries about their safety, to the resurfacing of ancient family arguments, to nerve-racking dealings with hospitals and nursing care and hospices.

Full NY Times book review.
Paula Span talks with Roz Chast about "Cant We Talk About Something More Pleasant" in the NYTimes blog, The New Old Age.