How to Manage Your Mother

by Alyce Faye Cleese, Brian Bates

Guilt. Affection. Embarrassment. Friendship. Anger. Love -- who can bring out all these feelings, and often in the same day Your mother. No matter how mature or successful we are in our adult lives, with one word our mothers can somehow send us scurrying back to childhood. Can mothers and adult children ever learn to set aside their earlier relationship and talk to each other as adults In this warm, funny book, dozens of revealing stories from well known personalities from politics and show business show that it is possible to improve your relationship with your mother- or at the very least begin to understand it. Alyce Faye Cleese and Brian Bates include a practical ten-step plan and questionnaire to help you get back on track with your mother. You will learn to address specific issues and develop valuable insights that will help you start thinking about your mother in a profoundly new way.

272 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Louise Tebbutt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Half way through. An absolute revelation. EVERYONE should read this, as soon as possible. Whether your mother has passed, or you never knew her or were raised by someone else, this is still a must read. Also recommend to mothers themselves, whatever age their children are.

Finished: Be aware the title can be misleading. It is not about changing your mother in any way. It is about altering your perception of her by seeing her life from her perspective, and acknowledging her personality traits, whatever they may be. And then working on improving your relationship (if necessary) with an adult attitude.

[Oznasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you get on with your mother? This book convinced me that having issues with your mother is perfectly normal. Psychotherapist, Alyce Faye Cleese interviewed over 100 well-known people about their mothers. This included Michael Caine, Helena Bonham Carter, John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mia Farrow, Peter Gabriel, Hugh Hefner, Steve Martin, Liam Neeson, Michael Palin, Colin Powell, Keith Richards and others from various fields. They each had one thing in common—issues with their mother.

The book is entertaining as it includes many funny anecdotes as well as a few sad stories. It helped me to be more at peace with my mother. I could see my relationship with my mother reflected in some of the stories. I recommend this book to anyone who has a mother. Also, I recommend it to anyone who is a mother, no matter how old your children are, as it may help you to avoid some of the negativity that is commonly inflicted onto children by mothers who of course are only trying to do their best.

Cleese, Alyce Faye and Bates, Brian
How to manage your mother—understanding the most difficult, complicated and fascinating relationship in your life

Metro Books, London, 1999
Regan Books, New York, 2000

[Sabah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insight on how to understand your mother as a human being with a prior past and the basic issues of conflict between you and grown up you.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book purely from an "outsider's" point of view since I have a wonderful mother and never felt I had to "manage" her. Reading this made me appreciate her even more.