Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom Is Dead: A Memoir

Television writer, producer, and bestselling author of the acclaimed The Broke Diaries and Mixed charts her unexpected role as her terminally ill mother’s caretaker in this funny, moving, and unforgettable memoir, Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom is Dead.

Angela Nissel always wanted her mother’s approval. But two defining events created a barrier between them: renouncing Christianity and being admitted to a psychiatric ward—events that mirrored failed parenting to her mother.

Beating her depression, Angela moved to Los Angeles where she quickly achieved success as a television writer but soon after found herself dead broke and enduring a painful divorce. It was at this low point that she received heartbreaking news: her mother had cancer. Angela moves her mother to Los Angeles where she attempts to hide foreclosure notices and her live-in boyfriend while also trying to save her mother’s life with everything from crystals to celebrity doctors. Still, her mother succumbs to her cancer.

In this poignant and hilarious memoir, Angela chronicles her odyssey as she tries to remain “strong” like her mother in the face of grief. Delightfully self-deprecating, unsparing in its honesty, yet filled with wacky humor and joy, Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom is Dead is an unforgettable portrait of love, yearning, loss, and resilience that reveals the indelible power of introspection to save our lives.