Travels with My Mother

by Peter Calder

From the book Peter Calder's travels with his octogenarian mother- back to her roots in the Old Country- became a voyage of discovery for him as much as for her. Like many of her generation she had always regarded herself fundamentally as an Englishwoman, marooned on a distant shore. And she had raised her son as an Englishman abroad, knowing more about Robin Hood than Te Kooti. His "Travels with My Mother" are recounted with wit and sensitivity. As the unlikely pair journey to London and the South West, the author reflects on his childhood and family life. The result is more than a the diary of a specific trip is also a story that many New Zealanders will find familiar. It is an engrossing and entertaining story with many comic turns which examines the author's relationship with his mother as much as it explores the land of their forbears. And it shows how, in visiting the Englishman he was brought up to be, the author learned more about the New Zealander that he has become.

198 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Anne Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

The redeeming feature of this read for me is how honest Peter Calder is when retrospectively examining his relationship with this mother and his oft-times impatient and condescending attitude towards her when both preparing for traveling and during it. Like many of us Calder had good intentions – he wants to give his deserving 80 year old mother the trip of a lifetime, visiting her English roots and allowing her to experience a little of what the life of her forbears was like. But the altruism and romantism of his aspirations falls short when we learn that he’s expecting to achieve all of this in about 10 days via a whistle-stop tour of England and the South Coast, before delivering his mother to her English cousins for the best of a month, while staying on independently (and unencumbered) in England himself. Having sold the idea of a book to his publishers before the trip he is sponsored his airfare by Air NZ and many of his trip expenses are funded by an inheritance of his mother’s which stipulates she is to spend it travelling to England. I don’t know, he just comes across as a bit of a free loader, who is doing what needs to be done to claim the inheritance but not really developing the itinerary to suit his mother. As mentioned though, he is honest to the reader that this is what unfolds, which is something of a redeeming factor. I grudgingly admired him for managing to get his trip to the UK out of Air NZ and spin a book out of a 2 week holiday.

[Anita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the author's writing as well as his story about traveling with his mother, a familiar trope for his Mum, rediscovering her ancestral roots in the UK and how that compares with her years of thinking of the place of her origins.
The author is sympathetic to his mother, and yet unkind at times, scathing in the descriptions of what is mother is like as a traveling companion.
The author paints an unflattering picture of his behavior and perception towards his mother which add a sense of deep truth to his memoir, which I appreciated.
It was a most enjoyable read, partly about how immigrants like his mother viewed their relationship to NZ, the relationship between an older mother and son, with plenty of humor to add to my enjoyment.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I disliked this man intensely by the end of the book. Quite whingy