Introduction

Zoe FitzGerald Carter’s mother, Margaret, is a beautiful, independent-minded woman who has suffered from Parkinson’s for over twenty years. Knowing that her future holds only further indignities, Margaret decides to “end things” -- and asks that her three daughters to be there with her when she does it. For a year, Zoe flies back and forth from her home on the West Coast with her husband and children, to her mother’s home in Washington D.C. As she struggles to come to terms with her mother’s decision, she revisits scenes from her past, including an adolescent eating disorder, a philandering, larger-than-life father, and two warring older sisters. Moving, provocative and surprisingly funny, Imperfect Endings is the story of a woman finding the courage to die; of a daughter finding the strength to parent her mother; and of a family learning to love and let go. Imperfect Endings won first place in the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association’s literary contest and was excerpted in the March 2010 issue of O magazine. It is currently a Barnes & Noble “Discover Great New Writer’s” pick.

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Excerpt

Chapter One:

I don’t have to answer the phone. On my knees in the bathroom, daughters just settled into the tub, I have the perfect excuse to ignore it. Let the machine pick it up instead. But I push off my knees and head for the door, my brain several steps behind my body as it usually is by this time of day.

Only then do I pause, reluctant to leave the steamy warmth of the bathroom, the giddiness of my naked children who are lolling at one end of the tub, pouring water on each other. At four and eight, Lane and Clara are hardly at risk for drowning, but I remind them to be careful – keep the water in the tub, hold off on the shampoo —and step out into the bedroom.

Shading my eyes from the blinding, late-day sun, I glance out at the glimmering strip of the San Francisco Bay and, just beyond it, the hazy outline of the Golden Gate Bridge. Four years on the West Coast and this view of water and sky still thrills me.

I pick up the phone, annoyed with myself for answering it, and sure it’s someone calling to either sell or beg something from me.

“Oh, there you are! Have I caught you at a bad time?” It’s my mother. Her voice sounds cheerful and a little excited, as if she has good news. “I was just looking at my calendar and wondering if you could come to D.C. the first weekend of February?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to check. What’s up?” I drop onto the bed, heart beginning to clamor. I know what’s up.

“Well gosh, honey, I’ve been trying to find a good time to end things as you know and I was hoping that weekend might work for you. I haven’t called your sisters yet, but of course I want them here too. And your girls if you can bring them. I’m still working out the details, but --”

“Jesus, Momma,” I hiss, cupping my hand over my mouth so Clara and Lane can’t hear me. “You make it sound like a family reunion!”

“Well there’s no reason to get huffy, Zoe,” she says. “I can’t plan anything unless I know you girls are available. Can you just take a quick peek at your calendar?”

“No, I can’t! I’m in the middle of giving my kids a bath, I don’t have my calendar, and I can’t think about this right now.”

“Fine.” Her irritation is palpable and for a moment there is silence. “So when can you call me back?”

I want to say never. I will never call her back if she insists on talking about killing herself. But I think of her lying alone in her big empty bed, of her dying alone because her daughters weren’t willing to show up, and my petulance turns to shame.

“I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Okay, sweetie.” Her voice is cheerful again. “That would be great. Talk to you then!”

I stand up and look out the window, the sound of splashing and laughter faint in the background as if my daughters -- or, for that matter, my entire life -- had just receded into the distance. I watch the last burning rays of sunlight disappear behind Mount Tamalpais, the vast glorious landscape turn from gold to gray. view abbreviated excerpt only...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. Mother/daughter relationships are the backbone of this story. Skim pages 80–84. Talk about each daughter’s relationship with her mother, and with the other daughters. Why is Zoe so alienated from her older sister, Katherine?
2. Zoe’s mother, Margaret, does not seem to notice significant problems with those around her, such as her husband’s affairs and Zoe’s anorexia. Yet she is very picky about little things, such as appearances. Do you believe she was unaware of those larger issues, or was she perhaps willfully blind?
3. Zoe and her sisters and husband all express feeling that Margaret’s wish to die and have them help her is asking too much. Is that too much to expect from a loved one? Does she truly have the right to end her own life, even though it has such an impact on those around her? Is there anything she could have done to make it easier on her family?

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Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author Zoe Fitzgerald Carter's web site
»	Interviews with Author Zoe Carter
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