Local Voices
A story about the ties that bind us, Close-Up explores what makes, drives, complicates, and undermines our most important relationships.
In this artful, expansive novel, we follow five protagonists--Jacob, Martin, Caroline, Jeanie, and Jill--through love, marriage, parenthood, and the romance of friendship as they struggle to make sense of themselves and each other and of what makes for good art, good magic, and a good life. What follows is a story only Michelle Herman could write: one of missed connections and old grievances, of loneliness and longing, of rifts and reconciliations and redemption. Close-Up depicts the fraught entanglements of the relationships we're born into and those we choose--carefully or with abandon--with the precision and nuance that has characterized her work over the last thirty years.
As a middle aged, single, black woman, Karen Todd is content with living life simply. She goes to work, keeps in touch with her family, and loves her God. But one day, on her day off, she wakes up and finds that she is having trouble moving her left hand. Thinking she needs to sleep it off, she takes a nap. When she wakes back up, she fixes a bowl of oatmeal and the bowl slips right out of her hand.
Not knowing what else to do, she calls the nursing hotline and they advise her that she needs to go to the emergency room right away; she could be having a stroke. Karen immediately gets in her car and drives to the hospital. While there, she loses feeling on her left side and is admitted for further testing. Results determine that she suffered from an "old stroke." With the cause determined, she is released to a nursing home to be rehabilitated through occupational and physical therapy.
She is only there for three days before she loses consciousness and dies. Neither of her two daughters are notified until the next morning.
What happened to Karen Todd? Although the cause remains unknown, in this brief retelling of a small piece of Karen's life through the eyes of her oldest daughter, Cori, you will travel alongside her as Karen lives her final days.
A Note From Cori
If you've lost a loved one while they were in the care of a hospital or nursing home, this story may trigger painful memories or thoughts. If you find that you are unable to continue reading The Clouds Will Catch Me at any point, please put the book down. Believe me, there were many times while writing this that I had to put the book down. Therapy has helped but there are still days when I figuratively put down my book, and that's okay.
But he cannot shake a growing sense of dread.
Lighting all the Hanukkah candles is an important job, and it only gets bigger every night. Will the shamash-helper candle melt under pressure? A heart-warming, illustrated story of faith and courage about a beloved Jewish tradition.
