Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

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Traveling With Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 4,470 ratings · 991 reviews

An introspective and beautiful dual memoir by the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and her daughter

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-somethin...more

Hardcover, 282 pages

Published September 8th 2009 by Viking Adult (first published January 1st 2009)

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Mar 04, 2010 BarkLessWagMore rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, travel

I picked this up hoping to experience a trip to Greece through the two authors but instead I'm finding that it is more of navel gazing piece. Sue Monk Kidd is turning fifty and having a difficult time coming to terms with the back end of her life while her daughter Ann is suffering from depression because she wasn't accepted into a program to study Greek history and doesn't know what to do with her life. The two have a conflict free but somewhat distant relationship, they don't connect closely a...more

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Aug 27, 2011 Kerry Hennigan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ann Kidd Taylor had intended her first book to be an account of her travels in the company of her mother, Sue Monk Kidd, best selling author of The Secret Life of Bees. Together mother and daughter had explored the places in Greece and France sacred to women – and especially three very specific women: the Virgin Mary, Athena and Joan of Arc.

Each of these iconic females, as depicted in literature, folk lore, icons and statuary, has much to reveal to modern women, if only we take the time to liste...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From the reviews I've read, this book won't appeal to everyone. It wasn't a riveting read, but rather a slow, steady, meditative journal to be contemplated. It appealed to me because of the nuggets I found that caused me to reflect on my own physical, chronological and emotional maturing.

Sue Monk Kidd described her experience of aging, which caused me to reflect on my own experience of morphing from being energetic, lithe, flexible and tireless (well, not so easily worn out) to experiencing phy...more From the reviews I've read, this book won't appeal to everyone. It wasn't a riveting read, but rather a slow, steady, meditative journal to be contemplated. It appealed to me because of the nuggets I found that caused me to reflect on my own physical, chronological and emotional maturing.

Sue Monk Kidd described her experience of aging, which caused me to reflect on my own experience of morphing from being energetic, lithe, flexible and tireless (well, not so easily worn out) to experiencing physical limitations; approaching the precipice of middle age and peering over the edge to consider how many more years are left. So for the woman who is near or past the half century mark of her life, there is food for thought.

For a woman with daughters, Sue provides the words that arouse the wonder and awe of watching your child become a woman unto her self. She describes the helplessness of watching her struggle and the yearning to fix whatever it is that hurts. Her daughter, Ann, who co-authors the book, provides the insight into the self inflicted doubts and anxieties that accompany life changing decisions and events as she learns to deal with them both on her own and with the help of her mother. Such revelation causes the mature woman to recall her own struggles, self doubts, need for independence and purpose in life. It causes the mother in us to treasure the woman child who is our daughter all the more for who she has become and who continues to blossom and grow before her very eyes. This is a story about love, which requires letting go, moving away and coming toward with the ability to trust, and share on a deeper level.

For a woman on a spiritual journey, this book allows the reader to ponder her own journey - moving to a place with a sense of purpose over a period of time. It lets us know that beliefs once held, or lack thereof, do change and can be enriched if one is open to the small signs and wonders that occur if only our eyes are open.

The message that moved me the most as a 60 something woman is, I don't want to miss the dance. I have always welcomed the opportunity to "dance," to express myself, experience the richness of life, to be open to adventure (within reason), to cultivate deep friendships, to feel the music. If I don't get out there (as Sue and Ann did) I won't be where the music is. If I don't be still and listen, I won't hear the music that is playing every so softly - to which I can at least sway and spin, at least a little.
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Jul 19, 2012 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“Traveling With Pomegranates” is the mother-daughter story of author Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. In alternating chapters, mother and daughter detail their evolving relationship as daughter Ann transitions to adulthood and mother Sue deals with the tribulations of aging. Ann and Sue navigate these life changes while vacationing in Greece and France and while at home in South Carolina.

While I had borrowed this book from a friend a while ago, I finally read it this summer when I was in despe...more “Traveling With Pomegranates” is the mother-daughter story of author Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor. In alternating chapters, mother and daughter detail their evolving relationship as daughter Ann transitions to adulthood and mother Sue deals with the tribulations of aging. Ann and Sue navigate these life changes while vacationing in Greece and France and while at home in South Carolina.

While I had borrowed this book from a friend a while ago, I finally read it this summer when I was in desperate need of perspective. On the cusp of 27, I was feeling rather contemplative of where my life was currently at and where it was heading. While it would be rather fantastical to say this book offered me complete clarity, reading Ann’s chapters helped to normalize my feelings on life, love, family, and careers. Many of the thoughts and emotions Ann expressed throughout the book were eerily similar to the feelings I was currently having. While it is natural to think that one’s pain is unique, it was necessary for me to be reminded that other people have similar feelings. More importantly, it showed me that one could experience heartbreak and failure and successfully move on. It may take some time, but it will happen.

What prevents “Traveling With Pomegranates” from being a knockout five star book (for me) is that I couldn’t relate to the travel experiences that Sue and Ann had. While in Greece and France, Sue and Ann’s excursions focused heavily on historical elements that were too personal to them to be appealing to me. When a paragraph or chapter veered too much into history, I found myself reading rather quickly (borderline skimming) until I could get to a more relevant part.

While I ultimately enjoyed “Traveling With Pomegranates” I’ve read some unfavorable reviews of this book on Goodreads and I’m not too surprised. I think “Traveling With Pomegranates” can be a perfect book to read but only at the perfect time in your life. If I had read it a couple of years ago when it was first given to me, I don’t think I would have been so connected to characters. So I recommend it, but I recommend it cautiously.
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Jul 27, 2011 Denise rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novel-chick-picks

As Sue Monk Kidd begins this memoir, she and I are in a similar place...nearing 50 with a child just graduating from college. I certainly identified with the loss that inevitably comes when a child grows up. As the book progressed however, I found that I identified with Sue and less and less. Perhaps it's because I'm not a writer. It just seemed to me that she over analyzed everything: art, dreams, a glance, a thought...I mean to me, sometimes a smile is just a smile. A weird dream simply means...more

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May 24, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction-biography-memoir, downloaded-to-kindle

I found Sue Monk Kidd's THE DANCE OF THE DISSIDENT DAUGHTER so moving and paradigm-shifting that I had awfully high expectations for this book and was somewhat disappointed. On the occasion of Sue's turning 50 and her daughter Ann graduating from college, they go together on a trip to Greece, where their alternating journal entries convey their physical and spiritual journeys, insights and discoveries. The mythical heritage of Greece, including much sacred feminine tradition and especially the m...more

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Dec 23, 2009 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal_memoir_biography

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...more

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Apr 18, 2010 Kazia Trujillo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It reads similar to "Poisonwood Bible" by B. Kingslover, an exotic location and a stressed mother daughter relationship. However, it misses the mark from being a quarter as interesting.
In the "Poisonwood Bible" she turns a desperate location into a fascinating experience- in "Traveling with Pomegranates" she turns a fascinating location into a desperate experience.

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Feb 10, 2011 Ellie Revert rated it 1 of 5 stars

I don't like to read these reviews until I've read the particular book, BUT if I had seen so many reviews mentioning the total self-absorption of these 2 women-----mother and daughter----I would have skipped the book altogether!! They were in Europe---were they paying any attention to the idea of how blessed they are to be able to travel together---for generous amounts of time---in a wonderful part of the world? Or is it truly ALL ABOUT THEM???? They both need to "get over yourself!" (I gave thi...more

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May 13, 2013 Leon rated it 3 of 5 stars

An introspective and beautiful dual memoir by the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and her daughter

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

...more

An introspective and beautiful dual memoir by the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and her daughter

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.

From Publishers Weekly

In a probing literary collaboration that moves from Greece to their home in Charleston, S.C., novelist Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees) and her daughter, Taylor, explore and record the changing stages of a woman's life. At 50, Kidd, a wife and mother who had found fulfillment as a writer in recent years, was approaching menopause and anxious about tapping the green fuse, or regenerative energy, for the next step in her life. Traveling to Greece with her daughter, Taylor, 22, when the latter graduated from college in 1998, Kidd recognized that her daughter, who had just received a stinging rejection from a graduate school, was also undergoing another kind of wrenching transformation—from child to adult faced with decisions about what to do with her own life. In passages narrated in turn by Kidd and Taylor, the two create a gently affectionate filial dance around the other, in the manner of the fertility myth of Persephone and her mother, Demeter. In travels through Greece, Turkey and later France, Kidd and Taylor found strength and inspiration on their respective journeys in the lives of Athena, the Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc, but mostly through a new understanding and appreciation of each other. Although the maiden-mother-crone symbolism grows repetitive and forced, their's is a moving journey. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“A touching rapprochement between mother and daughter.”—Kirkus Reviews

“A return trip in 2000 finds both women changed, and a 2008 afterword rounds out this stunning account of inner journeys, separate and intertwined.”—Booklist

“Read this one as a memoir, a travelogue and as a self-renewal book”—*Milwaukee Journal Sentinel *

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Oct 22, 2012 Kiki Bolling rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book tells the spiritual and physical journey both mother, Sue Monk Kidd and daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, take througho three different countries. The names of which escape me right now , but one was Greece. They take the trip together as a way to commemorate that junction in thier lives as women. Sue, commemorating the period of entering menopause and growing older. And Ann commemorating becomming and women and graduationg college. Both women come to terms with different things about themselv...more

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Oct 15, 2012 Gayle Hart rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book the first time I read it, but not as much upon rereading it. I enjoy Greek mythology and really like how the authors move between and interconnect the Greek and Christian traditions. I still found the storytelling compelling and still enjoyed the insights in to each writer, I just found the naval gazing a bit much the second time around.

In addition to the naval gazing, the privileged and elitist nature of the writing really came forward for me during the second read. I had n...more

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Sep 17, 2012 Denise rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mothers whose daughters have left to begin new lives of their own.

I really enjoyed the book, in large part because I found so many parallels between my life and the book's plot and characters. This dual memoir targeted so many of the feelings I have experienced these past few weeks as a mother who both feels the loss and gains of watching her two daughters leave for college. I have so much to relate to Sue Monk Kidd in terms of the closing of one chapter of her life while struggling with an unknown new chapter. There was a sense of camaraderie as I watched Sue...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Katharine Holden rated it 1 of 5 stars

Navel-gazing in the extreme. Never have I encountered two women more self-absorbed. I mean, the daughter is standing in a cave in France that most of us will never see, surrounded by ancient wall paintings, and she goes off into a lengthy internal monologue about whether she should be a writer or not. She might as well been in a room at the Marriot. And these monologues are repeated endlessly, with much analysis of their dreams. I got so fed up with their pretentiousness and their rudeness. The...more

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Jul 05, 2012 Saloma Furlong rated it 3 of 5 stars

I thought I would love this book, but I ended up just liking it. Nothing HAPPENS in it. I believe it was Hegel who said that peace times are the empty pages of history. This book is a good example of that. Anne Bradstreet wrote: "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." I say, "Amen!"

This shared memoir was rather flat because of the lack of struggles. It's like these two women have to create their o...more I thought I would love this book, but I ended up just liking it. Nothing HAPPENS in it. I believe it was Hegel who said that peace times are the empty pages of history. This book is a good example of that. Anne Bradstreet wrote: "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome." I say, "Amen!"

This shared memoir was rather flat because of the lack of struggles. It's like these two women have to create their own... we all turn fifty (or not) and I don't think it is as dramatic for everyone as it was for Sue Monk Kidd. Ann Kidd Taylor becomes depressed when she is rejected by the grad school of her choice. Rather than apply to a different college, she convinces herself she would rather be a writer. I wasn't convinced... she seemed pretty passionate about Greek studies until she experienced the rejection.

So, the comments about navel-gazing are right on. The only thing that kept my attention is their writing... they are both good writers. But it is also their literary style that gets in the way of readers getting to know Sue or Ann better. This writing was "constructed" and so it doesn't feel intimate or natural. A good memoir makes me feel as though I got to know the author(s). After reading this whole book, I don't feel I know Sue or Ann very well... only that neither of them is good at rolling with the punches and they clearly don't seem to realize that they come across to their readers as having a sense of entitlement.

The other criticism I had of the book is the lauding of their symbolism and dreams. We are all on a spiritual journey, and one person's symbolism does not necessarily speak to everyone else. I love Greek mythology, but I'd rather read and discover it for myself, as opposed to getting it through someone else's lens.

I'm not sure what would have improved this book. Perhaps using their experiences in novels, and creating characters who actually make me care about them? Or else be more inclusive with their own (real) struggles... I can't imagine their lives are as pristine as this book makes them seem.

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Jun 07, 2012 Dahlia added it

This is a book of non-fiction; it's a travelogue of a mother and daughter traveling through Greece and the Mediterranian. Sue Monk Kidd is the mother. She's spent her adult life being a writer and journalist-- meditations on religious living-- Now that she's in her 50s she feels like something is changing and she's feeling a bit directionless. She considers her lifelong dream of writing a novel. At the same time, her daughter, in her 20s, is also feeling directionless. She's just been rejected b...more This is a book of non-fiction; it's a travelogue of a mother and daughter traveling through Greece and the Mediterranian. Sue Monk Kidd is the mother. She's spent her adult life being a writer and journalist-- meditations on religious living-- Now that she's in her 50s she feels like something is changing and she's feeling a bit directionless. She considers her lifelong dream of writing a novel. At the same time, her daughter, in her 20s, is also feeling directionless. She's just been rejected by the one program she cared to be in-- in Greek studies. She feels that this rejection is not just about a grad program, but a big NO from the universe. She feels like her options are closed. They travel together and write alternating chapters of the book-- talking about the sights and the stories, but also their thinking out the issues they are dealing with and also the things they notice about each other. THe pomegranites refer to an ancient Greek symbol of fertility and abundance that came to be associated with the myth of Persephone and Demeter Persephone (the daughter of Demeter and Zeus) has been kidnapped by Hades and taken to the Underworld. Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest, is so distressed that she goes in search of her daughter. When she leaves of course, the plants die, the winds are cold, trees are bare. The idea is that Hades tricked Persephone into eating 6 pomegranite seeds. When Demeter came to claim her daughter Hades told her-- "Sorry, Perse here ate food in the underworld so she has to live here as my wife." Demeter complains to Zeus and he makes a deal with Hades that for 6 months of the year, she be allowed to return to the world of the living. It's that whole "why is there winter" story. ANyway, the mother feels like she must find a way to get her daughter out of the dark place she's in. I really enjoyed this, and if you're interested in mother-daughter relationships, you might like it too. ANd as an interesting final tidbit, the book Sue Monk Kidd eventually write was a great piece of fiction called "The Secret Life of Bees."(less)

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Nov 29, 2011 Sally G. rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book shares a Mother/Daughter journey (internally and externally) from the perspectives of both Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor.

Sue is in the unique position of spiritually reflecting as BOTH a Mother and a Daughter.

The physical settings are Greece, Turkey, France and South Carolina ~ and from those locales we venture into the wonder and wisdom of Greek mythology, the history of the Black Madonna, Mary and Joan of Arc.

Demeter, Persephone and Hecate provide a fertile platform...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Cynthia Davidson rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: mothers with daughters...

Having read & enjoyed the Bees book, I was eager to listen to this book, as I had it on CD (from the library). Being read to, by the authors, mother Sue & daughter Ann, is something I'd recommend. Hearing their voices adds to the emotional impact. And, you can do this while traveling yourself, with or without the pomegranates...

Hearing the book, during a five hour drive, to my mothers' house (& back, as the CDs last 9 hours), I was in the right frame of mind to focus on the subject....more
Having read & enjoyed the Bees book, I was eager to listen to this book, as I had it on CD (from the library). Being read to, by the authors, mother Sue & daughter Ann, is something I'd recommend. Hearing their voices adds to the emotional impact. And, you can do this while traveling yourself, with or without the pomegranates...

Hearing the book, during a five hour drive, to my mothers' house (& back, as the CDs last 9 hours), I was in the right frame of mind to focus on the subject. I listened as both a daughter, and a mother myself (also in my 50's with two daughters in their 20's, like the authors' ages). Not sure readers without children would be as intrigued.

The best part of the whole experience for me was the idea/example of a dual memoir. This was a first for me. Now I'm inspired enough to imagine doing something similar with my daughter(s), if they'd go for it! And I'd like to find other collaborative works to read & learn from.

The mythological, archetypal context, provided by the retelling of the Demeter & Persephone story, added to the story's 'universalized' appeal. I appreciated this, tho' some readers might quibble about 'projecting' oneself in such a way. This is the purpose of myths, which can help us expand our stories & our options, so we can grow beyond our current situations.

Reading the reviews others have written, I agree with some of the reservations already expressed, like the 'privileged' nature of these women's lives. Let's just say their 'struggles' are higher up on Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs.

And, each time I began to feel the women's introspection was getting tiresome, I asked myself; why do I lack the stamina to pay attention to that much detail? Mother-daughter realizations deserve my time.

I concluded that since this level of female thinking is rarely revealed, we're not used to hearing it. In our culture, we're raised on a steady diet of action, action & more action & not enough reflection.

More reflective people wouldn't get into half the problems we're now trying to solve!

Enjoy the book, & let's hear from you too.

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Sep 07, 2011 Patricia rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a memoir written by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, about their travels together in Greece, France and Turkey. When Sue was on the verge of turning 50, she invited her daughter to accompany her on a trip to Europe. She wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday in Greece and to give Ann a graduation present. The book is written in alternating chapters by Sue and Ann, who each offer their impressions of the sites that they visit. For that reason, it is somewhat unique.

Ea...more This book is a memoir written by Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, about their travels together in Greece, France and Turkey. When Sue was on the verge of turning 50, she invited her daughter to accompany her on a trip to Europe. She wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday in Greece and to give Ann a graduation present. The book is written in alternating chapters by Sue and Ann, who each offer their impressions of the sites that they visit. For that reason, it is somewhat unique.

Each woman had been to Greece before. Sue had visited Greece in 1993 and Ann had toured the country with some classmates during her junior year of college. Ann felt that her destiny was to study ancient Greek history and perhaps become a professor, but her plans suffered a setback when she didn't get accepted by the graduate school she hoped to attend. The rejection left her with a feeling of depression. Sue sensed that something was wrong, but Ann found it difficult to confide in her mother. Ann's concerns are those of a young woman. She worries about the direction her life will take, and how to maintain her independence and autonomy while in a close relationship. Meanwhile, Sue is struggling with her own problems, worrying about the approach of old age and her own mortality and a feeling that her creativity is waning. She explores the myth of Demeter and Persephone as a parallel for the growing emotional distance between her and Ann. Meanwhile, Ann begins to find her own support system by turning to religious and mythological figures, such as Joan of Arc, the Virgin Mary and Athena, for guidance.

Sue and Ann's first trip to Greece took place before Sue wrote her phenomenally successful novel, The Secret Life of Bees. There is a great deal of inward reflection about religious and mythological symbols and the Divine Feminine as Sue visits ancient shrines. This is only natural, I suppose, considering Sue's previous writings on feminism and religion. However, at times I wished she would just dispense with her metaphysical musings and continue with the travelogue. Mother and daughter do become closer during the trip. Profound insights that she gains on her journey help Sue to realize her long-held ambition to become a writer of fiction, while Ann discovers her own talent for writing. After a little over a year, the women return to Greece and France with a tour group.

Readers will learn as much as they probably want to know about the myth of Persephone, Demeter, and Hecate, along with the significance of pomegranates. They will also learn about religious sites, including shrines dedicated to Black Madonnas. I thought the memoir was very interesting and honest, but it tends to be rather somber in tone. (less)

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Sep 03, 2011 SaraJean rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a very interesting read. I have read some of Kidd's other books (The Secret Life of Bees and The Dance of the Dissident Daughter) so I knew I would like her writing style at least. I was pleased to discover I liked Taylor's writing style as well.

I was rather confused because the friend who loaned me this book is very definitely CFBC (child free by choice) and one of the main themes in Kidd's chapters is her facing menopause and the loss of her fertility. As a woman in prime child-bearin...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Genevieve rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is billed as a mother-daughter travel memoir from Turkey, Greece and France, but it's more of a self-indugent snooze fest, like reading the diary of someone with a really boring life, who insists on writing ad naseum about it anyway then suggests you might want to read it. Very little, if anything, actually happens in these women's travels - it's all about the internal journey. Note: I'm the first to admit that I'm a plot person. I can definitely appreciate a beautiful turn of phrase a...more

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Aug 12, 2011 Susan Fetterer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Here I am beginning a review, again, without having finished the book. I'm finding it useful to record impressions, review later and adjust prior judgments and correct possible assumptions. Half-way through the book and I'm enlightened and relating totally to the universal search for meaning, trying to be patient with changes in my own life, finding new spiritual directions, recognizing that things happen for reasons we may need time to understand, and appreciating the importance of readjusting...more

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Jul 19, 2011 Susan Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I just found this book OK and that is diappointing. It could have been so much more. Like other reviewers, I expected more travel talk. I enjoyed the trip Ann took in her student years without Mom. She really made that part come alive especially the dinner at the "non-tourist" restaurant. When I read that, I thought I was in for a good read. Alas, I was wrong.
Adding the mother to the mix didn't help. The two women were so depressed that it seemed like a black fog hovered around them. They went...more

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Jul 07, 2011 Marianne rated it 1 of 5 stars

Not sure who recommended this, but I really didn't like it. It's one of those books that never would have been published had the author not already been a successful novelist. She travels through France and Greece with her daughter, and they write alternating chapters. Her daughter Ann's chapters are much less successful than the author's. Sue Monk Kidd is turning 50 when she writes this, and her fears about aging are painfully self-conscious writing of the worst kind: "Tears come. The anguish I...more

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Apr 20, 2011 Jo Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

One of my favorite books is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd...so when a friend told me about this book by Sue, and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor, I was eager to read it. It's a series of reflections on rekindling the passion and direction that will define their years, as well as a means of bonding them as mother and daughter. After being at the BOTN Vermont retreat 10 days ago, I found this personal sharing even more wonderful. To realize that one of my favorite books (TSLOBees) was att...more

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Mar 13, 2011 Kim Wells rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: foodie-reads

I bought this book thinking it was a fiction book-- it was late and my blurb reading skills were apparently not working well. After a few pages I figured it out, but it was interesting so I kept going, and it got better as I went.

This is a combination travel memoir, mother/daughter journal of sorts. Sue Monk Kidd, who wrote The Secret Life of Bees (which I am now reading) and her daughter Ann explore a spiritual journey they made together that parallels, for them, the Demeter/Persephone mythos....more

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Feb 02, 2011 Christie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Having read The Mermaid Chair and The Secret Life of Bees, both by Sue Monk Kidd, I was excited when this was chosen as one of our book club selections.

Traveling with Pomegranates should have been a better book than it actually is. This is a mother(Sue)/daughter(Ann) memoir about travel, faith, love, creativity and writing. At the beginning, as I settled in, I thought that it was going to be quite compelling. I felt a kinship with Sue:

“I didn’t understand why I was responding to the prospect of...more

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Nov 30, 2010 Shauna rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir-biography

Angst, anguish and analysis! Slow moving book is slightly redeemed by an interesting search for the divine with each of us. Bottom line: You have to be comfortable in your own skin. Each stage of life - adolescence, young adult, middle age – offers the opportunity to figure out who you are and what you want.

Favorite quotes:

Sue, entering menopause:

“My memory began to nod off like a narcoleptic and I would be left with a thought curled up on the tip of my tongue..”

“As a baby boomer, I fantasized t...more Angst, anguish and analysis! Slow moving book is slightly redeemed by an interesting search for the divine with each of us. Bottom line: You have to be comfortable in your own skin. Each stage of life - adolescence, young adult, middle age – offers the opportunity to figure out who you are and what you want.

Favorite quotes:

Sue, entering menopause:

“My memory began to nod off like a narcoleptic and I would be left with a thought curled up on the tip of my tongue..”

“As a baby boomer, I fantasized that it would be nice to come up with a new term for the word, [menopause] like the Awakening or the Becoming. I wanted it to take into account the way every beautiful and dormant potential in you wants to wake up. How you get intimations of being un-tethered at long last, of power and audacity bubbling furiously on your two back burners. How you start thinking: yes, I do believe women can save the world.”

“I realize I’m still trying to work out the boundaries. How to love her without interfering. How to step back and let her have her private world and yet still be an intimate part of it. When she talks about her feelings, I have to consciously tell myself she wants me to receive them, not fix them.
Every woman needs to become self-mothering, I remind myself. To learn to take care of herself, to love herself. Ann has to find a mother in herself.”

Ann, trying to decide what to do with her life:

“I remember my prayer to Joan of Arc in the chapel at Notre Dame – I want to know what I was born for. I want the courage to do it.”

“How many times have I heard Mom refer to writing as her “necessary fire?” I don’t recall the exact words, but the message has stayed with me: look within and find your “necessary fire,” a phrase she attributed to the novelist John Gardner. To me, this idea meant finding work with which I had a deep compatibility, a true affinity, yet work that also held the possibility to bring me alive.”

“Spontaneously, I pictured my mother on one side of me and Mary on the other. It was no surprise that my mother turned up in my image and no big shock Mary was there either. Since I’d felt her presence vent over my life in the cathedral at Le Puy, I’d thought of Mary as my spiritual heart, my ability to love myself.
You’re scared, I know, but the three of us can handle this, I imagined Mary telling me. Gradually I felt myself grow calm.”
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Aug 15, 2010 Kathleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

My friend presented me with this book at a Sunday luncheon and said --I brought this for you. I loved it and I am hoping on leading a retreat based on it.
Intrigued, I set aside what I was reading and started this book the very next day.
At first, I felt a remarkable sense of deficiency. It seemed I had passed though the stages of life that the elder author was obsessing over but maybe I had not noticed. Had not noticed? this woman is writing her inner thoughts about approaching menopause as well...more My friend presented me with this book at a Sunday luncheon and said --I brought this for you. I loved it and I am hoping on leading a retreat based on it.
Intrigued, I set aside what I was reading and started this book the very next day.
At first, I felt a remarkable sense of deficiency. It seemed I had passed though the stages of life that the elder author was obsessing over but maybe I had not noticed. Had not noticed? this woman is writing her inner thoughts about approaching menopause as well as seeing her children leave her home for lives of their own. She appears to be grieving these two major changes and searching for breakwaters in her life. So, instead of traveling with Sue, I stopped and thought and wondered why the cosmetic changes of aging, which were throwing her for a loop, were of no moment in my life. Why did I find my childrens' marriages and growth outside of home non-threatening? How did menopause come and go and never seem to be processed? I found my answers as I reflected on my reading. I was older than she when all these things happened --by a decade-- so I think it was the passing of time which made the visibilities of aging not so concerning, the marriages seem appropriately timed,the arrival of grandchildren miraculous. I did appreciate the chance to look at these things through Sue's eyes. It helped to crystallize, to come to terms with my questions which her writing raised in me.
Second, my heart broke for Ann as she faced rejection from a boyfriend as well as rejection from what she felt was her only choice of a life plan for her after college graduation. It made me wonder what we are doing to our girls? So much expected from them! Where is the perspective on the long way we've come, Baby?
Third, I loved the travel aspect, especially tied in with Greek Mythology and the Black Madonnas.The decisions that both women reached through being in each other's loving presence, through learning of other cultures, though examining the role of women in faith stories, through applying the morals of myth, through recognizing there is no static condition on this earth, through examining their own cores and who/what resides within make this book a wonderful starting point for discussion and/or a retreat.
Having said that, I do think this would have been a 3.5 star if that were possible, because the writing styles really didn't excite me as much as the issues being raised.
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Jan 17, 2010 Aban (Aby) rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was drawn to this book because of the mother/daughter theme; it's one I've always found fascinating. Initially, I was inclined to give it a 3 star rating, but by the end I felt it was worthy of the higher rating.

The book is an account of the travels in Greece, Turkey, and France, of Sue Monk Kidd (author of "The Secret Life of Bees") and her daughter, Ann Kidd Taylor. It spans 10 years, and the chapters are written alternately by Sue and Ann.

This is an introspective book, with both women refle...more

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About Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd was born in the small city of Sylvester. She felt the pull to write as a child, but because of the attitudes in the South during her youth, she only took to writing around the age of thirty. She started with spiritual and religious texts, about Christianity, and only began writing fiction when she was in her forties. She began working on her first novel, The Secret Life of Bees, in 1...more

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Books by Sue Monk Kidd

The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Woman's Journey from Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine

When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions

Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd

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“It shocks me how I wish for...what is lost and cannot come back.” — 64 people liked it

“My children have always existed at the deepest center of me, right there in the heart/hearth, but I struggled with the powerful demands of motherhood, chafing sometimes at the way they pulled me away from my separate life, not knowing how to balance them with my unwieldy need for solitude and creative expression.” — 28 people liked it

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