Total Page : 1
Publisher : Penguin Audio
Publication Date : 2009 09 08
>> just ok
In planning a trip to Greece I was looking for some modern day travel writing What i can t understand about this book was that Ann says she wants to write a book about her travels This is not a travel book it is a I took a tour through Greece This was a professional tour with tour guides telling you where to go and yuck even a cruise There was no adventure just seeing the tourist sites Isn t there a famous quote about the difference between a traveler and a tourist
The book was also a lot more religious than I thought it would be I did like some of the background to Bees a book I really loved I found Ann hard to take because I kept wanting her to take a risk but she only chose safe roads Married under 25 I would never allow my daughter to do that Working at a magazine that it looks like her mom got her the job and then minimizing Demitri who could have been a real romance Why didn t she move to Greece instead Frankly all that Mary stuff was making me agitated Seriously if Mary truly grants prayers I sure hope she saves them for poor abused children sold into prostitution rather than two upper middle class women who have to privilege to write because the men in their lives support them
That said there were some good things about the book I felt for Sue s concern about her daughter and it was nice to see a mother/daughter with such a good relationship I laughter out loud during the lily scene I think they should stick to writing fiction because truly their own lives not that exciting
>> Navigating the crossroads in our lives with as much grace as possible
I am writing this review mostly because of the negative reviews that seem to be expecting another Secret Life of Bees type of story That is not the focus of this book as it clearly suggests in its description If that is what you are looking for then you might be dissatisfied I truly loved this book and feel anyone navigating a crossroads in their life that requires self awareness and perhaps a bit of courage can benefit from it It is an honest recounting of a mother and daughter going through different crossroads in their lives and in their relationship Both stories spoke to me I have teenage children going to college and related to the journey that Sue experienced of the natural redefining of your life that takes place when this happens Being mindful and present with all that this change brings up in your life can be a gift and that is what she gave me I also related to Ann s story Now that my kids are going off to their own lives I feel a sense of freedom to pursue my interests again I consciously chose to make them my primary focus until I felt they were ready to begin their own lives Now I feel a bit like Ann ready to explore my next step and trying to determine what that might be The book also incorporates traveling to amazing places and has humor which I love in a story Well done ladies
>> Just couldn t go along for the journey
I have a lot of respect for spiritual journeys I thoroughly enjoyed Sue Monk Kidd s The Dance of the Dissident Daughter A Woman s Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine Even though she headed in directions that don t appeal to me personally I loved reading about her spiritual awakening
This book about Kidd s travels with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor as they both face times of crisis in their lives Sue as she enters the second half of life Ann as she crosses over into adulthood may appeal in the same way to mothers and daughters trying to make their way toward each other and toward a truer version of their new selves
Beyond that I can t much recommend this book It is a muddle of introspective thought that has little meaning except for the protagonists The two women endlessly recount dreams they ve had and look to the dreams for meaning painful evidence of Sue s seven years of Jungian analysis as they look to myths statues and holy places for guidance I m not sure they re better off for having left the age old traditions of faith that revere Father Son images for their new Mother Daughter imagery
While they re praying to everyone but God Athena the Black Madonna the Virgin Mary Demeter and Persephone Joan of Arc they traipse around Greece Turkey and France weeping about their fates Ann is plunged into depression after being rejected by a grad school program Sue is having a typical mid life crisis even though she paints it a little more atypically It is this indulgent international gnashing of teeth that truly put me off Do you know what I wouldn t give to travel to these places I sure wouldn t waste the privilege dragging around steeped in self pity I would have more readily considered their epiphanies if they had just stayed at home in Charleston another place I love and could not be unhappy in and duked it out there It made me long for Shirley Valentine as a traveling companion
Just one sentence in a book can color your whole picture of an author In one paragraph Sue relates how her own 75 year old mother read Dissident Daughter and cried out in a letter Oh Sue I don t want to miss the dance Instead of jumping at the chance to forge a tie with her own mother a real person not some vague uber mother of myth or spiritual tradition Sue apparently brushes her off I have to tell myself what is true that I didn t follow up on that bright opening the way I might have She says she wishes for a deeper connection with her mother but she can t be bothered to work at it For me this one sentence invalidated the entire agonized trek Love the ones you re with my dear
Toward the end of the book at her wedding Ann chides herself Don t overthink I tell myself I wish she had thought of that sooner She and Sue could have saved themselves a lot of grief Just have your Big Fat Greek Wedding Southern style cry and laugh and argue with your family and get over yourself Then get back to writing
