In Bomb Shelter Mary Laura Philpott introduces herself while lying upside down on her living room floor, rendered immobile at the age of forty-four by two herniated discs. While she’s down there, she ruminates on memories of her family, Christmases past, the house they share, and thinks about how she ended up there. But quickly she moves on from this reflective tone to one of panic as she recounts the night she and her husband awoke to a strange banging noise in the house. Fearing an intruder, they cautiously get up to investigate – and discover their teenaged son on the bathroom floor.
What follows is an exploration of what it means to be a mother, the desperate and ferocious love that will have you wishing fervently that you could take whatever horrible experience your child is going through onto yourself. That you would happily suffer any fate if only it would spare them. This night was the fork in the road between the life they had planned over the next few years for their son (learning to drive, participating in sports, enjoying the most carefree his life would ever be as he completed high school and began looking forward to whatever his future would hold) and what his life will be after he has been diagnosed with a chronic medical condition. Life changed completely, literally overnight.
She explores memories of when both her children were young (and a turtle called Alfred makes repeat appearances), and explores all the different emotions and reactions she has to this new medical situation. She shares her realization that her daughter’s asthma is no longer the biggest danger, and also her realization that in all the panic, she had forgotten to consider how her other child was experiencing this new part of her family landscape. She tries to grapple with figuring out how to keep both her children safe, figuring out what is necessary to have in case of emergency. But she also shares her pride at how both of her children deal with what is happening to them – her approaching her daughter with a video on how to help her brother should he need it, only to discover she has already watched it several times all on her own, wanting to find out for herself how to help him. How her son, even with disappointments and frustrations, still grows and grows up.
It’s not a fully tragic book, nor is it a quaint account of watching children grow up. It’s somewhere in between, and that is generally where real life lives. I have a kid who was born with medical issues, and then developed others even as the original ones resolved. It’s been a lot to deal with, so much to learn and manage (particularly for them, of course). But it has also just been our normal. We’ve never been parents or a family without this backdrop of doctor’s visits and hospital admissions. So we don’t know any different. We have done our best to deal with it, and it has – as it must – had an impact. I really enjoyed reading another mother discussing what this all feels like. My experiences weren’t the same, but it felt similar, and I could relate to a lot of what she shared. Definitely a good read if you’re also dealing with (or have dealt with) medicalized parenthood or if you just really like turtles. They’re pretty great, too.
From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a poignant and powerful memoir that tackles the big questions of life, death, and existential fear with humor and hope.
As a daughter, mother, and friend, Mary Laura Philpott considered herself an “anxious optimist”—a natural worrier with a stubborn sense of good cheer. And while she didn’t really think she had any sort of magical protective powers, she believed in her heart that as long as she loved her people enough, she could keep them safe. Then, in the early hours of one dark morning at home, her belief was upended. In the months that followed, she turned to poignant memories, priceless stories, and a medley of coping mechanisms (with comically mixed success) to regain her equilibrium and find meaning in everyday wonders.
Hailed by The Washington Post as “Nora Ephron, Erma Bombeck, Jean Kerr, and Laurie Colwin all rolled into one,” Philpott tackles the big questions of life, death, and existential fear—not to mention the lessons of an inscrutable backyard turtle—with hope, humor, and joy. – Goodreads
Book Title: Bomb Shelter
Author: Mary Laura Philpott
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook
Published By: Atria Books
Released: April 12, 2022
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Family, Motherhood
Pages: 288
Date Read: July 17, 2024
Rating: 7/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.00/5 (9,101 ratings)