Her Last Death: A Memoir
Susanna Sonnenberg
October 27, 2008
Scribner
It all begins with a phone ring. It is Sue’s aunt, Irene, with disturbing news. She tries to explain to Sue that her mother has gotten into a car accident and is in a coma. Any child who hears that type of news would automatically take action. Furthermore into the memoir, Sue begins to explain her relationship with her mother. She begins with her childhood from about eight years old toward her teenage years.
Sue and her mother become distant. She goes to boarding school and new things arise. She begins fantasizing about boys and sex. Sue begins to get desire and needs which she never discovered. We soon learn that Daphne, Sue’s mother, is addicted to coke. For Sue’s 16th birthday, her mother gives her a gram of coke and tells her “it’s clean”. Sooner than later, Sue becomes an adult. She loses her virginity to her English college professor and becomes a wife and a mother. Her relationship with her mother begins to drift and shortly becomes a non-factor.
“You can’t turn your back on people in trouble, Sue. You have no idea what they could do to that little girl. Thank God you have no idea” (Sonnenberg, 68).
Despite everything Daphne put Sue through, she taught her morals, one of the most important things to learn. Her mother is still her mother and no issue or ticket is too big to not go to her aid. Sue couldn’t ever say anything about her mother never being there for her but she needed more from her mom. Not only just living in big houses, living in foreign places or having a wealthy family but Sue needed her mother when she was too strung out on drugs or having too much sex. She needed her and wasn’t there. This quote is a great slice of what I’ve enjoyed while reading the book because Sue’s intention was never to turn her back on her mother but for her to feel the same way she felt when she needed someone.
