Roz Chast’s “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?”

An excerpt from Chast’s 2014 illustrated memoir about her parents’ challenging final years. View in browser | Update your preferences Sketchbook “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” By 2002, my parents were ninety. It was hard not to notice that they had grown frailer. By Roz Chast For the past week, The New Yorker has published daily installments of the Interviews Issue, the third digital-only issue in the magazine’s history. The subjects have included two Oscar nominees, a former White House chief of staff, a star of “The White Lotus,” and a scholar of Russia who talked about how the war in Ukraine might end. Also featured in the collection is the longtime New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast, who portrays life on the receiving end of questions in one of the issue’s more playful contributions, “Who Wants to Know?” In 2014, The New Yorker showcased “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?,” an excerpt from Chast’s illustrated memoir about her parents’ challenging final years. Well into their nineties, the elder Chasts, a pair of retired Brooklyn teachers, resisted any acknowledgment of their own mortality, as well as efforts to prepare. With tenderness and humor, irritation and dismay, Chast captures a difficult stage of the child-parent relationship in a manner that will resonate with anyone who has cared for aging relatives, and with those who haven’t. The full-length version won the National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, and exemplifies one of Chast’s many gifts: what her colleague Adam Gopnik describes as the “weight beneath apparent whimsy” of her work. Read the story Also from the Archive Sketchbook Epilogue From 2016: Finding a final resting place for my parents. By Roz Chast Profiles Scenes from the Life of Roz Chast From 2019: In the past four decades, the cartoonist has created a universe of spidery lines and nervous spaces, turning anxious truth-telling into an authoritative art. By Adam Gopnik The 2023 Interviews Issue The New Yorker Interview The Undeniable Royalty of Angela Bassett The actress talks about her student days at Yale, embodying Tina Turner, her Oscar nomination for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” and her funny side. By Michael Schulman The New Yorker Interview Ron Klain Looks Back on Biden’s First Two Years as President “We have been declared dead, dead, dead many times,” the White House’s departing chief of staff says, of the Administration. “You just have to keep after it.” By Evan Osnos The New Yorker Interview Will Shortz’s Life in Crosswords The veteran Times puzzle editor discusses his favorite clues, debates in the crossword community, and unexpectedly finding his first serious romance. By Liz Maynes-Aminzade The New Yorker Interview Cate Blanchett Plays Herself The star of “Tár” reunites with her opening-scene partner for a conversation about listening to music, going before audiences, and the art of acting in life and in the movies. By Adam Gopnik The New Yorker Interview How the War in Ukraine Ends An eminent historian envisions a settlement among Russia, Ukraine, and the West. By David Remnick The New Yorker Interview Aubrey Plaza in Real Life The “White Lotus” star on her dream collaboration with Mike White, her long-standing feud with Joe Biden, and her decade-plus search for a role that resonated. By Tyler Foggatt Today’s newsletter was written by Nathan Burstein. Thanks for Reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for the New Yorker Classics newsletter. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from the products and services that are purchased through links in our newsletters as part of our affiliate partnerships with retailers. Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.