IN PURSUIT OF RADIO MOM

Crylen’s debut memoir explores the complexities of filial relationships.

In 1958, the author was almost 5 years old and living on Chicago’s South Side with her large Catholic family. The sixth of eight children, Crylen often found herself imagining an ever-present and positive mother within the radio, a sharp contrast to her own depressed mother, Florence, who struggled with the size and circumstances of their family (“Every night in bed, I strategized about how I would at last coax Radio Mom out from where she and the others huddled together. My desire for her had grown increasingly intense. I was sure that once Radio Mom saw me, everything else would be easy-peasy—it was getting her attention that was the problem”). What follows is an intimate portrayal of a family in which many of the children, the author most of all, tiptoed around their mother to avoid making her life any harder. The memoir follows Crylen’s life story through her teen years and on to college, changing pace as she falls in love with John, an older professor whom she eventually married. The author experienced a time of transition as she retrained to become a counselor, gave birth to her own daughter, Grace, and eventually divorced John. From this point, the narrative, through deft storytelling, examines the changing dynamic of mother-daughter relationships, exploring the bonds between Grace and Crylen, Crylen and her own mother, and Grace and her grandmother. It is here that the author’s mother softens, doting upon her granddaughter as Crylen developed a new understanding and peace within their relationship. It is a well-written piece, laced with honesty and blessedly lacking in hyperbole. Though filled with an incredible amount of detail that can sometimes feel unevenly distributed, the book will nevertheless endear the author to the reader as she pieces together her past and expresses hopefulness for the future.

A candid memoir that will resonate with anyone navigating the relationship between mother and daughter.