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    Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
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    Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
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    Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
    Audiobook9 hours

    Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

    Written by Ann Kidd Taylor

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Sue Monk Kidd has touched millions of readers with her novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair and with her acclaimed nonfiction. In this intimate dual memoir, she and her daughter, Ann, offer distinct perspectives as a fifty-something and a twenty-something, each on a quest to redefine herself and to rediscover each other.

    Between 1998 and 2000, Sue and Ann travel throughout Greece and France. Sue, coming to grips with aging, caught in a creative vacuum, longing to reconnect with her grown daughter, struggles to enlarge a vision of swarming bees into a novel. Ann, just graduated from college, heartbroken and benumbed by the classic question about what to do with her life, grapples with a painful depression. As this modern-day Demeter and Persephone chronicle the richly symbolic and personal meaning of an array of inspiring figures and sites, they also each give voice to that most protean of connections: the bond of mother and daughter.

    A wise and involving book about feminine thresholds, spiritual growth, and renewal, Traveling with Pomegranates is both a revealing self-portrait by a beloved author and her daughter, a writer in the making, and a momentous story that will resonate with women everywhere.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 8, 2009
    ISBN9781101079546
    Unavailable
    Traveling with Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story
    Author

    Ann Kidd Taylor

    SUE MONK KIDD is the author of the novels, The Secret Life of Bees and The Mermaid Chair, and the memoirs, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, When the Heart Waits, and Firstlight, a collection of early writings. The Secret Life of Bees has spent more than 125 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted into an award-winning movie. The Mermaid Chair, a #1 New York Times bestseller, was adapted into a television movie. Each of her novels has been translated into more than 24 languages. The recipient of numerous literary awards, Sue lives in South Carolina with her husband. Ann Kidd Taylor is a graduate of Columbia College in South Carolina. She has published articles and essays in Skirt! magazine in Charleston, SC, where she worked for two years after college as an editorial assistant. She left to pursue a career in writing, working on a book about her travels, which evolved into Traveling with Pomegranates, a memoir she co-authored with her mother Sue Monk Kidd. It is her first book. Ann lives near Charleston with her husband and son.

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    Reviews for Traveling with Pomegranates

    4/5

    21 ratings18 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Sue Monk Kidd is a writer (Secret Loves of Bees) but she is also a woman and mother. This book, co-authored with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, is about their lives and their relationship with and to each other. The story is very spiritual in that Sue sees herself and Anne as a modern Demeter and Persephone. Sue, with health issues, projects her own fears of growing old, while Ann, shows a lack of self-confidence to go forward with her life and relationships. But as they travel and see the ancient world and hear its tales, they see that their fears and uncertainties need not stop them from doing what they want to do. The progression from Greece and the Demeter/Persephone comparison (pomegranate charms that they wore) move on in another year to Paris where they are engrossed in the Jeanne d'Arc and then a return to Greece after Ann's marriage and their connection with Black Madonnas is filled with introspection and self-analysis.This isn't the type of book that I normally read, but I found it interesting that a mother and Daughter would be this close. The descriptions of their travels were also enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      A good book if you have a daughter. I don't, but it was still a pleasant read.
    • 4/5
      What can I say but Sue Monk Kidd has done it once again! This is the debut novel for her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, and is written by both women. The book largely centers on their travels to Greece, Turkey and France. It is written reflections on how the different locations they visit impact them individually as well as the telling of how a mother-daughter relationship transforms over time. I devoured this book and found myself being able to relate to both Sue and Ann in different portions of their journey. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in discovering more about themselves as they travel with the authors to these ancient and sacred places.
    • 3/5
      A friend of mine read this book and loved it, passing it on to me. Wish I could say I liked it, but I did not. I read it quickly, first to get to the Paris part, and then to finish it to give back to my friend. I found both women, mother and author Sue Monk KIdd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor; totally self-absorbed. They were traveling the world, with other people, but seeing only their own interior lives. Both were in transition periods and that may have accounted for and excused some of their being totally wrapped up in themselves, but it made for terribly dull reading, and was a big disappointment to someone who had just come back from a trip to Paris with her daughters! Also, I got the distinct impression both women are quite introspective and their own emotional and spiritual temperatures are what is of the most compelling interest to them. Their feminism struck me as being more narrow than broadening or freeing. From their few comments about their husbands, both seem to be married to very fine men, but they both brush off their husbands and have next to no references to any masculine influence at all. I can't imagine a man enjoying this book, though I imagine some women who identify with the different stages of their lives and their relationship with each other, will, as my friend did. Another thing that really bothered me is that the writers construct their own spiritual "trinity" of Athena, Joan of Arc, and Mary, and pray to them. Sue and Ann consider themselves very spiritual, but I thought they seem to be separated from spiritual truth, and certainly from biblical truths. Their spirituality seems to be a self-construct of paganism and self actualization. Interestingly, Ann Kidd Taylor, the daughter, a neophyte, writes better, I thought, than her mother, the experienced author -- Ann's voice is more conversational and clearer, and she communicates better, but then Sue Monk KIdd's writing has always seemed somewhat labored and pretentious to me.
    • 4/5
      This book hit on many feelings and situations I am going through right now. My daughter and I both read it and we were moved by this book. The travel journal of Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, was insightful, inspiring and poignant. Many passages have been written in my journal. A great read.
    • 5/5
      I enjoyed the traveling journal of Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. I suggested that my mother read it and she enjoyed it too. It is an exploration of an adult relationship between a mother and daughter who show a lot of repect for each other as human beings. The go through a lot of situations that hit home with me.
    • 4/5
      In this book we meet the author Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. They are on a journey together, both in the physical world and the spiritual one. Ann has just finished college, been dumped by her boyfriend and been rejected to her chosen grad school. Her self-confidence has reach the freezing point, and the uncertain feeling of not knowing what to do with her life leads her straight into depression. Her mother, Sue, takes on a trip Ann to Greece, not knowing how to help her daughter out of her depressing state. Sue is struggling with her own problems, like not being able to let her grown children go, she is also confronted with her fear of growing old. This is a mother-daughter story, of Sue and Ann, Demeter and Persephone. This is the story of personal belief and personal growth, of the virgin Mary, Athene and Jeanne d'Arc. It is the story of finding yourself, who you want to be and what you want to do. We also get the back story to Sue Monk Kidd's book The Secret Life of Bees.The book was gentle, easy and fulfilling. I could certainly relate to both mother and daughter, though I might have more in common with the daughter (this being an age issue). The problems they talk about are so universal, probably felt by many women all over the world, every day. Who am I, what is the meaning of my life, what am I supposed to do, am I good enough. It is not a book filled with action, but thought provoking to the extend you might start asking yourself the same questions. I liked it.
    • 4/5
      Overall, I would recommend this to those of you who like spiritual journeys and emotional awakenings - even if this does not always amount to the most exciting reading. I am glad I completed this memoir, and I feel as if I was able to learn a bit more about myself along the way.
    • 5/5
      This is the true story of Sue Monk Kidd's and her daughter's exploration of "sacred places" in Greece, Turkey and France. I found this memoir fascinating on several levels. It seamlessly combined Greek mythology, the creative process, mother-daughter relationships and feminist spirituality. I had read Sue Monk Kidd's two novels previously, and I thought her daughter was equally (if not more) talented as a writer. I hope she writes more.
    • 4/5
      had the audio book. wanted to give up at the second CD btut then was drawn into the story the forth and back between mother and daughter. made me sad since my relationshio with my mother is not as open but wants be to improve on it.
    • 3/5
      Relationship between a mother turning 50 (and entering a new phase in life) and her 20 something daughter becoming an independant woman.
    • 5/5
      Spectacular, spectacular, spectacular mother-daughter read. Received as a gift from my own mother, and can't speak highly enough about it. With enough humor to avoid falling into sappy territory, enough poignancy to avoid being boring, and enough meaning to resonate with any mother or daughter, Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor have created an enjoyable, wonderful, touching story to share with their readers.
    • 3/5
      Interesting back and forth story of mother/daughter relationship. Both Sue and Ann read their story. It was interesting for me because Sue lets us in on her background for writing The Secret Life of Bees. Ann tells of her desire to become a writer but struggled with the idea that people would compare her with her mother. Interesting history of Greek mythology as they traveled looking for the "mary" of SLoB as well as comparing themselves with Demeter’s loss (Sue) and Persephone’s transformation (Ann). Lots of symbolism for both ladies are mentioned and explained.
    • 3/5
      Sue Monk Kidd ends this memoir with an apt quote from Anais Nin, “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection.” [Traveling with Pomegranates] is a personal journey for both Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor. As they journey in Greece and France, each of these women is finding herself while simultaneously re-forging the mother and daughter relationship. Sue struggles to find creative energy in herself as she faces 50. Ann, depressed and withdrawn after being rejected from graduate school, searches for a direction in life. The most interesting aspects of this memoir relate to Sue Monk Kidd’s novel [The Secret Life of Bees]. During her travels, Sue Monk Kidd develops a personal religion melded from a cult of Mary, classical mythology, and ancient goddesses which forms the basis of the unique Mary/goddess worship that takes place in the novel. The author also describes her struggles to shape the work and her intriguing use of a montage of seemingly random pictures as an “outline” for the novel. Ann Kidd Taylor’s writing pales in comparison to her mother’s complex examination of the interrelationships of myth and life.
    • 3/5
      When one author succeeds with one book and writes another one about writing the first one, it looks suspicious to me. Preachy about feminine aspect of divine. Mother-daughter relationship kind of interesting, shows well on audio when alternating chapters are read by respective authors.
    • 3/5
      Every mother and daughter have distinct stories to tell, and this book proves that not every story has to be about dysfunction, abuse, addiction. Written in alternating chapters by Sue and daughter Ann, the book is interesting and, for the most part, well-written. I liked it but I didn't love it, for the same reason that many people did not like Eat Pray Love: there is so much self-absorption by people of relative privilege. Sue is turning 50 and becomes almost obsessed with menopause, Old Woman and Crone images. Ann receives a rejection letter and becomes depressed, doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. The two travel together, learning more about themselves and each other. Dreams are almost endlessly recounted and interpreted, and that did become a bit boring to me. I loved Sue's book The Secret Life of Bees, and enjoyed reading how that book came about. I also enjoyed learning more about the Black Madonnas. I enjoyed Eat Pray Love even though it had as much if not more self-absorption and more self-indulgence, so I don't know why this book occasionally just rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I think it is a good, solid book of introspection, especially for would-be writers interested in how other authors write
    • 3/5
      Traveling with Pomegranates isn't a travel book. It isn't the story of a mother and daughter. It's not an analysis of the changes in a woman's life, or the search for the strength and divinity in ourselves. Instead, authors Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor have combined all of those elements in a book that spans ten years.In 1998, when Sue Monk Kidd took her daughter, Ann, to Greece, both women were going through major transitions in life. Sue, turning fifty, felt as if she was losing her daughter to adulthood, and losing herself to old age. She had already moved from her home of twenty-two years to Charleston. She combined the trip as a birthday gift to herself and a graduation gift to Ann. This was Sue's pilgrimage, an odyssey at the approach of fifty, a way to acknowledge changes in her life, and her relationship with her daughter and her own mother. Ann, a shy introvert, had been rejected by her chosen grad school. This was her first trip back after an extraordinary journey that woke her interest in Greece. Now, she was depressed, unsure of herself, and felt rejected. She saw her mother as a strong woman who followed her own heart.This first trip together to Greece was a turning point. Sue was the one who saw the comparison to Demeter and Persephone, "the intersection of mothers and daughters," forced to part ways. While Ann had taken Athena as an icon on her earlier trip, Sue was entranced with the story of Demeter, and fascinated with Mary, particularly in the form of the Black Madonna. Their later trips together, to France, and back to Greece, brought all of the icons together for the two women. They also brought their own fears and goals into focus. Anyone who read Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees will be fascinated by her chronicle of her evolving interest in bees, the image of Mary, and the writing of that book. The travels of this mother and daughter brought both of them to writing. Sue finally wrote the novels she wanted to write. Ann found her goal in life. Traveling with Pomegranates bogs down at times with too much introspection about Mary and the divinity in women, but, even so, it's a fascinating story of the evolution of two women, in their lives, and their relationship with each other, and their dreams for the future.
    • 4/5
      Interesting alternating chapters describing events from both the mother and daughter's points of view. Pretty well-written, and although there were a few too many goddesses and Mary references for me, I liked their emotional openness.