Mum’s the Word
With Mother's Day quickly approaching (it's this Sunday, May 8th), it is a good time to explore some books about mothers and our relationships with them.
Korean author Kyŏng-suk Sin's Please Look After Mom was a hit in Korea, selling over 1.5 million copies. Recently translated into English, it is the fictional story of a family's search for their mother after she disappears in a crowded Seoul train station. Narrated in turn by different family member, they each present differing views on their missing mother and then, in the end, the mother's story told in her own voice.
Most mothers are heroes to their children. Some are an inspiration to us all. In her memoir, Letters to My Daughters: a memoir, Fawzia Koofi, Afghanistan's most popular female politician, tells of her experiences during Afghanistan's recent history and the effects these events have had on the lives of Afghan women. With her life constantly at risk, the memoir also serves as a way to pass along her story and her wisdom to her children, should she not survive.
After discovering a wedding photo of her mother with another man, Jasmin Darznik find out about her mother's early life in Iran and the lives of the three generations women who preceded her. Based on tapes made by her mother to tell her story, The Good Daughter: a Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life, pays homage to the sacrifices and struggles of her mother, grandmother and great-mother.
Dual memoirs are rare, but there are two which explore the unique relationship between mothers and daughters. In Traveling with Pomegranates: a Mother-Daughter Story, Sue Monk Kidd (author of The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid's Chair) and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor write about their experiences traveling through Greece and France together. Both women are at a cross-road in their lives and struggling to figure out their next steps and their relationship with each other. It is also available in e-book. Canadian author Mary Melfi explores her relationship with her mother in Italy Revisited: Conversations with My Mother. Through conversations they have about her mother's childhood and life in southern Italy at the turn of the twentieth century , Mary comes to a better understanding of their own relationship.
While reading the stories of inspirational mothers can be rewarding, there is nothing like reading a story about a dreadful mother to make you want to go and hug your own!
Mommie Dearest by Christina Crawford is still the classic of this tell-all genre, and changed forever our views on actress Joan Crawford and wire hangers. It was made into a movie starring Faye Dunaway. Jeanette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle: a memoir, was truly shocking in the level of neglect that she suffered at the hands of her completely self-absorbed mother (and father). It's a wonder she survived to tell the tale. Running with Scissors: a memoir by Augusten Burroughs is another tale of childhood at the hands of selfish paren'ts. It was made into a movie starring Annette Bening. Of course these stories are nothing new, going back to ancient Greece is the original bad mother: Medea by Euripides.
–written by Kelli
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