Nate Fakes introduces us to the colorful personality of his stepfather, Ron Malish, and reflects on their life together as Fakes pursues a career as a cartoonist and an illness begins to affect Malish's cognition and memory. It's a straightforward and sad little tale told fairly well. ( )

This book explained the devastation that a family can experience when someone you love has dementia. The person you know is gone and is replaced with someone you don't know any longer. This is what happened to Nate. His stepfather, Ron, has been diagnosed with Pick's disease. Nate has trouble finding the old Ron and trying to help the new Ron. He deals with a sense of embarrassment, sadness, anger, and guilt. Dementia is an unforgiving disease and can be devastating to the patient and their families and friends. ( )