Nancy Bachrach is living in Paris, advertising deodorant to the French, when her parents are found aboard their boat, the aptly dubbed Mr. Fix It, which leaked carbon monoxide overnight. Her father is dead, and her mother, the self-proclaimed “center of the universe,” is in a coma. (Worse, her chart at the tiny seaside hospital says she’s in a “comma.”)

Thus begins a dark, hilarious family reunion with her brother, Ben (a piano prodigy and eventual surgeon who was born with three thumbs), and sister, Helen (the wild child, now an “abnormal psychologist”). The siblings gather around their mother’s hospital bed, with Nancy eyeing the plug. This is a tale of genius, madness, ineptitude, collateral damage, and hope — with an ending that’s improbable, as only the truth can be.

about the author

Nancy Bachrach worked in advertising in New York and Paris, spinning hot air like cotton candy, glorifying her clients’ beloved denture adhesives and powdered orange-juice substitutes.

Before that, she was, sequentially, a clumsy waitress at Howard Johnson’s, an overzealous customer-service rep fired for making genuine apologies, a stenographer for an insomniac poet, and a teaching assistant in the philosophy department at Brandeis University, where she was one chapter ahead of her class. you can find more information on her and her book on her website www.nancybachrach.com

I found this book to be so funny. It is one of those books where it gets so interesting you can’t put it down.