BOOK SHELF: Who Killed Mom by Steve Burgess (A Delinquent Son’s Meditation on Family, Mortality and Very Tacky Candles)

It’s intimidating to review a book by a writer who you know will critique your critique.  I’ll risk it.  Who Killed Mom is a vulnerable and acerbic personal memoir-slash-momage by Steve Burgess.  In this witty love letter to his mother he manages to illuminate the quirky Burgess family history in a way that makes you smile and cringe at once.  Steve’s teen years alone are enough to make those considering children rethink the game plan.  

Among the laughs comes a more meaningful understanding of relationships with fathers and siblings.  We also take an amusing peek into 1970’s life in small town Canada complete with rumpus rooms and kitsch Christmas candles.    

At the bottom of it all lies a son’s deep love and affection for a tiny woman of impressive strength and character.  Moms of this generation sucked it up and suffered their roles silently.  This stoicism often resulted in disease. That’s what killed mom.