This was a really interesting account of life for mother and daughter dealing with the daughter's journey through a mysterious chronic illness. Unfortunately, the daughter was painted as a whiny brat, and the family appears to come through enough wealth and privilege that it is hard for others to relate to this account. The mother dropped everything to become her daughter's full-time carer, which is unrealistic to many. I feel that whilst some with chronic illness may pick up this book hoping to relate and find some validation, it could actually be alienating because so many others with chronic illness do not have the privilege that is shared in this book. Also, the writing style comes across as very immature, and was grating at times to read.

I find it hard to critique memoirs because every person's story means something to them and is important. However, it was a bit childish in the dialogue. The author's profound privilege also separates everyday readers from caring too much about her story. Naturally, she has struggled, but with wealth and opportunities that not everyone else has access to.

This book was a memoir of the 6 year journey of a mother and her daughter. It is the struggle to find out what was ailing her daughter. She is finally diagnosed with Lyme disease.

I enjoyed this book but I did find it to ramble on at times and was boring during these times.

Thank you for the advance copy.

While I liked this memoir of a mother's journey in trying to help her daughter deal with debilitating Lyme Disease, there were a few things that kept it from being a better book for me.

1. The author's staggering privilege made for a story that is not relevant to the vast majority of families dealing with chronic illness. Penenberg apparently comes from wealth and must have married into more of it (she was divorced by the start of the book), as she was able to completely dedicate six years of her life to caring for her daughter 24/7 and to do so in gorgeous houses in the California mountains. She writes of travels throughout the world, endless expensive treatments and indulgences that make it hard to completely sympathize with her and her daughter to the extent that she seems to expect us to. I was constantly thinking how much harder it would be for working class families who didn't have the benefits their family had. Throughout the book, they travel frequently to clinics in Mexico and around the United States. She takes mini-vacations to recharge and stays at opulent hotels. She shops at Whole Foods every day and sometimes stops for a massage there. She sets her daughter up in her own apartment to go to college in another state at one point and pays for it all and then takes her shopping (at Walmart, but still...) to buy all the supplies needed for it, even though they need to sign a year's lease and there's no telling if her daughter will be well enough to stay. This privilege seems completely invisible to her.

2. Despite the many ways they are so fortunate, the martyrdom is extreme. Penenberg sees herself as such a victim. She depicts her daughter as unbelievably unpleasant, whiny, demanding and childish. She writes of the time her daughter left the house for a few hours and she indulged in shutting a door loudly, because the noise of doors shutting was too unbearable for Dana and would lead to hours of pain and it was so nice to be able to make a sound. Oh my goodness. There are lots of little exchanges given for us to see how terribly her daughter treated her and how she just heroically put up with it.

3. I always read these books with an eye for what worked at the end. Like many mothers, I have a child who struggles with chronic illness. My oldest child has been sick with mystery illnesses for 10 years now, starting with sudden symptoms at age 12 (and cancer at age 13) and had three surgeries above the neck by age 20. We have close friends whose whole family has been devastated by Lyme, and other friends with other similar chronic illnesses. I am always reading and looking for new insights. This book gives us a deep dive into the often bizarre and dangerous treatments they tried but never really says what made the difference and saved her, so to speak. Towards the end they were eating paleo but that clearly was not what made the life and death difference. She doesn't even tell us if her daughter is all the way healed or how she's doing. It just ends with the girl finally leaving home and she gets to date and have a life again. I also have a hard time thinking she never went down reasonable natural paths like doing Stephen Buhner's protocols (check his books out on Goodreads, they're extensively researched with sound science and he's released the best treatment protocol for long-lasting Covid-19 illnesses for free on his website as well) when she did things like sonar healing with a $11,000 machine she purchased for their home and having her daughter's blood treated with ozone in a questionable Mexican clinic. She apparently used conventional doctors and really "out there" treatments (at one point, her daughter even starts drinking her own urine because someone has said that will help), but only at the end did they look into things like paleo and GAPS, and seemingly never went down herbal paths at all? Or maybe they did but she only wanted to write about the really weird stuff to make for a good story, but again, this is no help at all to people who are reading because they're also looking for answers.

4. The book seems more Anna's memoir than a mother-daughter story, even going in great depth into the time she build a cabin out of a chicken coop in college (this is given at the end, not in the beginning in chronological order). There's lots of talk about what it was like when she was hiking dangerous trails on vacation from her daughter, how much her dancing meant to her, etc. Lots of times she throws in things about her tight butt or the checkout boys at Whole Foods singing to her or a guy she had dinner with whom she really disliked. Meanwhile, we don't even know what her daughter ended up eventually doing with her life.

Ultimately, it was a quick, interesting read, but I think it will help to know what it is and what it isn't. People who haven't had to deal with this sort of challenge will likely find it an interesting story. Those who have dealt with Lyme and other chronic illnesses may find they have less in common with Penenberg than they might think, especially those who are not wealthy.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

I *wanted* to like this book - as someone who is living with a chronic illness, I always root for and find inspiration in stories from others in similar situations. But man, this was not great. Not even good. Maybe it was Penenberg's writing style - the unrelated side-trips into her own upbringing; the melodrama and flowery language; the juvenile "dialog." Maybe it was the way she portrayed her daughter Dana (whiny, entitled, selfish) and herself (a martyr, gullible). Maybe it was just the story itself: the way she dragged Dana all over this country and to Mexico and subjected her to snake-oil "treatments" without much research into them first (believe me, I understand wanting to feel better SO BAD that you're willing to try almost anything - ALMOST - but not going to an unregulated foreign clinic to have your blood taken out of your body, infused with "ozone," and then put back into your body!); the way she bent over backwards to attend to Dana's every moan and groan (even when it was clearly something Dana could do herself, like make a phone call to her doctor - if she can call her mom to ask her to do so, she could've just called the damn doctor), or maybe it was their oblivious life of extreme privilege that most people with chronic health conditions do not enjoy (did Penenberg have a job? How was she able to just drop her entire life to care for Dana 24/7? How did she pay for her homes in L.A. and all of her travels and all of Dana's medical expenses?). Add to this the chapters on Penenberg's own journey through completely freaking out-there "treatments" for her trauma (being "reborn" in a swimming pool through the thighs of her therapist - WTAF) and this book was just too much.

If you don't have a chronic illness and want to understand what it's like (or if you do, and want to find some comfort, understanding and help), skip this unrealistic and melodramatic take and instead check out something like <i>Brave New Medicine</i> by Cynthia Li.

This memoir was a touching story about a mom, Anna, going throught a six year perpetual illness of her daughter, Dana. Eventually they get a diagnosis and she runs through about every single treatment possible from traditional medicine to much more spiritual and alternative treatements. Anna gives up her life, and as a single mom she devotes her world to keeping her daughter comfortable (her high school aged daughter would scream if there was even exhaust from garden equipment coming through her window and her mom would have to run and close the window) and to try to find a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Eventually they diagnose Lyme Disease. Anna gives up her work as a dance therapist and largely focuses on Dana. She would travel with her daughter, and put their own sheets on their hotel beds, spray the room, bring a cookstove for specific diets etc. She even headed to Mexico for treatments. In the end, after hearing about some treatments and diets in detail, I wasn't clear about the doctor or treatment details that actually helped her daughter but something did help her get to a point where she could function. After she was recovering, Anna was still saving Dana. When a farming job fell through (which would seem like a stretch for a good fit with her health issues and sensitivities) she called her mom who got her set up by college with a place right away. As a mom, I understand the devotion to her child, also as a mom and a woman I find that the expectation to give up literally everything that makes you yourself is a dangerous expectation. Dana's dad is almost totally absent from the story except to try to get Dana into therapy and on medication early on. Anna goes on a handful of hiking trips and a family trip while Dana is sick but each of these is impacted by calls from Dana. The memoir did skip around a little bit in time and while it was a good read, I was left feeling a little bit like Anna was a martyr and Dana was a little more demanding than necessary or reasonable. While the story was about the journey, I did not really get the sense of Dana's perspective through this, not even as much as her sister Cayla's feelings. This would be a good read for anyone going through an extended illness of a child, especially those interested in alternative treatments and spirituality.

I received an advance copy (ebook) of this from NetGalley. I was drawn to the title, description, and cover. However, this book unfortunately missed the mark for me. I was intrigued from the introduction, and the writing was not bad, but the story just did not resonate with me. I was a bit confused about the first four chapters being well before Dana's story begins and then abruptly jumping forward in time. The first few chapters also do not, in my opinion, have any relevance to the rest of the story. If I was the editor, I likely would have chosen to omit those chapters. I think this book may be a good read for anyone who has or loves someone with Lyme disease or chronic illness, but unfortunately, this one missed the mark for me.

Really enjoyed reading this book about a mother's fight to save her child. Heart wrenching at times. Filled with moments of hope the story draws you in from the first page. Absolutely check out this gem of a book. Happy reading!

Thank you #Netgalley for this beautiful ARC! This is a memoir in a mother's words with the struggle through Lyme disease with her daughter. Such a journey! I'm thankful you completed your mission.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a pretty amazing story of the ups and downs of chronic illness. Navigating the medical community to find answers and trying to even get an accurate diagnosis must have been extremely frustrating. The author describes how life altering an illness can be for not just the patient but for the mother/caregiver too. And how far one will go to try to find a cure or at least some relief.

Dancing in the Narrows A Mother-Daughter Odyssey Through Chronic Illness by Anna Penenberg was a raw and emotional read for me. I was unaware of how debilitating Lyme disease could be in its most advanced stage. I related to Anna Penenberg as a mother and admired the calmness she was able to display on the outside even when she was far from calm on the inside. She never gave up on her tireless quest for a cure no matter how obscure each new treatment might have been and how it might have impacted her own life. Anna and Dana’s determination, intuition, resourcefulness, courage, unconditional love, faith and the bond that bound them together on this long and uncertain journey were evident throughout their ordeal.

Anna was a divorced single mother of two teenage daughters when her younger daughter Dana, then a sophomore in high school, presented her first symptoms which they later learned was caused by Lyme disease. Pain, fever, swelling, rashes, fatigue, hypersensitivity to loud sounds, smells and light, and an imbalance of her nervous system all became the norm for Dana and her caregiver, Anna. In the beginning, doctors contributed her symptoms to mono, a teenage ploy for attention or a case of depression. The talented and social teenager was gone and in her place was a very sick child that no one could diagnose.

Before Dana started suffering from these numerous ailments, she was an accomplished and talented dancer. She was bright, creative and social. Little by little all those things disappeared and Dana was left with pain, the unknown and a lonely world that she and her mother shared. Over the years, Anna drove Dana all over the country to try any treatment they heard or read about that suggested any hope of curing her ailments.

Dana's illness took its toll on Anna but she rarely let Dana see her frustration or fear. Anna described how she felt by saying, "It was like I was wearing an internal girdle cinching my gut together so emotions wouldn't escape through my mouth." It wasn't until Anna was attending a conference in Massachusetts, almost a year and a half after Dana's symptoms first began, that Anna discovered a mysterious dark speck on her neck. Anna was fearful that she might have been bitten by a tick, so when she and Dana returned home Anna began to do some research on Lyme disease.

From her research, Anna discovered that she didn't have the symptoms for Lyme disease but Dana did. "Dana was suffering from what we would soon learn was full-blown chronic Lyme disease." Through conventional and unconventional treatments, Dana and Anna fought, hoped, cried, occasionally smiled, but never gave up. Anna's determination as caregiver, mother, and the receiver of Dana's anger and resentment never deterred her from her ultimate goal which was to save Dana from a life of chronic pain or death.

When this nightmare finally ended after years of suffering and too many scary moments, Dana was able to live on her own and realize some of her dreams. Five years out from the start of her worst nightmare, Anna thought "I hadn't created a website to showcase my talents or offer services, and I had no following. But I'd had the heroic job of standing by my ailing daughter day and night for years. It wasn't a job that could be hired out. It wasn't a job I chose. It wasn't a job with tenure, benefits, retirement or prestige, but it transformed me. I was beginning anew, alone but determined."

Neither mother nor daughter chose this path for herself. They survived what they were dealt and could now talk about it and start living their own individual lives. Their story, courage and determination were nothing short of inspiring.

I really enjoyed reading Dancing in the Narrows A Mother-Daughter Odyssey Through Chronic Illness by Anna Penenberg and I highly recommend it. I received a complimentary copy of this book from her Literary Publicist, Stephanie Barko in exchange for an honest review.