{My mother-in-law} and I disagreed on almost everything and she let me know it.
. . .
Over the previous two decades, we’d come to love each other, but it was a particular, conditional sort of love, one based on circumstance and courtesy rather than connection and compatibility.

In an essay-length memoir, Strayed recalls her at-arms-length relationship with her mother-in-law, Joan; her discovery of Joan’s family past; and the vigil she and her husband provided during Joan’s last weeks of life. I liked it (and I liked Strayed’s memoir, Wild), but felt held at a bit of a distance, too. ( )