A Mother's World
Marybeth Bond & Pamela Michael
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
1998 Travelers' Tales Guide
ISBN: 1885211260

Journeys of the heart. Essays from women on the move.

One of the advantages for traveling women, as the editors write is: “We can go to almost any country in the world and look another woman in the eye and not be intimidated or intimidating.” The universality of mothers, being them & having them, is a bond that domesticates the farthest reaches of the planet.

As much as A Mother's World is about the outside world, it is about the writers' internal landscapes.

As I was writing this review I was faced with the excruciating reality that I could not comment on every essay, which is totally unfair! Each reaches out & touches the Reader because of the struggle each writer encounters, whether it's succumbing to blindness or traveling too often for work or searching for ancestors or ... & there I go about to list the kernel of each story.

Suffice to say, the Reader will find something wonderful, heartbreaking, infuriating, hilarious & everso genuine in each contribution to A Mother's World & to whet your appetite here are the titles:

The Willamette: Oregon: The hardest part of mothering is letting go by Kathleen Dean Moore.
Mother to the World: India: Not all mothers bear children by Cherilyn Parsons.
Where the Desert Blooms: Israel: Author searches for a miracle at Rachel's tomb by Janet Strassman Perlmutter.
The Fourth of July: Wisconsin: A mother reflects on her independence by Irene-Marie Spencer.
Vincent's Room: New York: Listening to children can be as subtle or as simple as seeing an artist's meaning by Christine Loomis.
Mama Bear: Alaska: An adopted son explores the hidden landscape of his family by Colin Chisholm.
Nests: At Home: Cherished memories are woven into nature by Louise Erdrich.
Remembering Dorothy Parker: New York: A daughter searches for meaning in her mother's past by Hallie Ephron Touger.
Bambini: Reflections in Venice: Italy: To conceive or not to conceive, that is the question by Michele G. Hanson.
Two for the Road: Pacific Northwest: From morrels to motels, a mother and daughter find more than adventure on the Oregon Trail by Molly O'Neill.
The Anil Journals: India: A mother weaves her adopted son's birth mother into their lives by Susan Wadia-Ells.
Lessons of the Rainforest: Costa Rica: Entrusting your child to a stranger is one of the hardest things to do by Stephanie Levin-Gervasi.
The Guilt Trip: Morocco: Learning to shed extra baggage is a mother's dilemma by Marybeth Bond.
Improvisation in a Persian Garden: Iran: An anthropologist takes her daughter into the field by Mary Catherine Bateson.
The Swimming Lesson: Mexican Caribbean: The author deepens her relationship with her companion's son by Denise M. Spranger.
Ten Blocks: New York: What makes a walk to school in the Manhattan rain magical? by Terry Strother.
Over the River and Through the Woods: USA: A family searches for home ground and each other by Pamela Michael.
Mother's Cooking: Peru: Sustenance for the heart comes from a Peruvian kitchen by Gabriella de Ferrari.
Christmas in Cairo: Egypt: A mother and daughter get more than they bargained for by Joyce Wilson.
Camping with Lucy: California: A one-word vocabulary opens worlds for a mother and child by Claire Tristram.
The Places I Went When My Mother Was Dying: Indiana & California: Mother Nature comforts and heals by Wendy Dutton.
A Hand in the Darkness: Massachusetts & Pennsylvania: A mother and daughter cope with blindness by Kyle E. McHugh.
You Can't Say You're My Mother: Ukraine: Undercover mom fights for her daughter's survival by Mary McHugh.
The Beat of Aeonian Drums: England: The mother-goddess appears in the English countryside by Barbara Wilder.
Whacked Upside the Soul: Alaska: And the child shall lead the mother to Mother Earth by Susan Zwinger.
Coming of Age on Bali: Bali: The author reflects on an ancient island ritual by Claire Walter.
The Magic Side of Time: Peru: Undertaking a south American odyssey with a nine-year-old in tow by Mary Gaffney.
Work It, Girlfriend: USA: A long-distance move brings a mother and daughter closer together by Robin Beeman.
Mother in a Strange Land: Romania: In Romania, a woman seeks clues to the mysteries of her adopted baby's life by Laura Cunningham.
Altitude Adjustment: Washington: The author contemplates the empty nest by Tricia Pearsall.

I like that the editors, Marybeth Bond & Pamela Michael, included various qualities of writing -- some visionary & others plain & simple.

Professional readers are often contemptuous of “maternal sentimentality”, assuming it can be measured against “accepted masculine literary standards”; motherly love, however, is a brew of a very different vintage, steeped in our species' unwritten story & spiced with unbridled adoration & everyday epiphanies -- attributes we have been taught ought to be reserved for our deity worship. To be a mother, regardless of biology or birth, is to accept an ancient mantle of compassion, responsibility & transformation. To mothers our children are gods incarnate, & to travel with them, because of them, for them, is indeed a spiritual journey of discovery.

A Mother's World is a celebration & an inspiration.
(11/02/03)

Rebecca