Molly Jong-Fast on 'How to Lose Your Mother'

“As much as I love my mother, I’ve often found myself regarding her with feelings that are somewhat closer to the opposite of love,” writes political analyst Molly Jong-Fast. The mother of which she writes is feminist icon Erica Jong, whose 1973 debut novel “Fear of Flying,” jetted Jong to a level of fame that she spent the rest of her life grasping on to. In 2023, her mother’s declining health and diagnosis for dementia forced Jong-Fast to reconcile her feelings about her mother: Was Jong a good mother? Probably not. Was Jong-Fast a good daughter? She herself is not sure. We talk to Jong-Fast about her book, “How To Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir.”