I have read the book Motherland by Fern Schumer Chapman. As a whole i felt that the book was not worth reading.
It starts out with a daughter in about her thirties expressing how she has never really felt close to her mother, mostly because she knows nothing of her past history because her mother refuses to talk about it. The most she does know that her mother is a Jewish survivor of World War 2.
After she explains that for about thirty or so pages Chapman goes on to explain her trip to Germany with her mother when she finally agrees to it. And that's about it.
I honestly found the book very predictable, mostly because almost everyone knows how terribly the Jewish people were treated during World War 2. I felt there was no element of surprise to it, so this wouldn't be a very suitable book for those who enjoy adventure and surprises. I think that those who may enjoy this book are probably people who have been through what Chapman's mother has been through because they can better relate to it.
What i think the theme of the book is or what it teaches is that your past is what makes you who you are. For all her life Chapman had felt empty. She always felt that a part of her was missing due to never knowing anything about her grandparents, the land where her mother grew up, or even what German dishes her mother used to eat. Even after she had gotten married and had two children she never felt truly complete until she and her mother went back to Germany to reclaim their past. I think that is an important thing the book teaches, because without your past you can never truly know who you are.
Another theme of the book is the importance of the bond between a mother and her daughter. Both Chapman and her mother Edith always felt incomplete, and part of that reason was because they never faced their past or knew much about it, but another part would have to be because they never felt close to each other. Chapman wanted desperately to know about her past but Edith did not want to relive the horrors of it. It wasn't until their trip to Germany together that they finally started to understand each other.
I myself have never felt that close to my mother by it never made me feel incomplete the way Chapman felt.
I would not recommend this book nor would i read it a second time.
It starts out with a daughter in about her thirties expressing how she has never really felt close to her mother, mostly because she knows nothing of her past history because her mother refuses to talk about it. The most she does know that her mother is a Jewish survivor of World War 2.
After she explains that for about thirty or so pages Chapman goes on to explain her trip to Germany with her mother when she finally agrees to it. And that's about it.
I honestly found the book very predictable, mostly because almost everyone knows how terribly the Jewish people were treated during World War 2. I felt there was no element of surprise to it, so this wouldn't be a very suitable book for those who enjoy adventure and surprises. I think that those who may enjoy this book are probably people who have been through what Chapman's mother has been through because they can better relate to it.
What i think the theme of the book is or what it teaches is that your past is what makes you who you are. For all her life Chapman had felt empty. She always felt that a part of her was missing due to never knowing anything about her grandparents, the land where her mother grew up, or even what German dishes her mother used to eat. Even after she had gotten married and had two children she never felt truly complete until she and her mother went back to Germany to reclaim their past. I think that is an important thing the book teaches, because without your past you can never truly know who you are.
Another theme of the book is the importance of the bond between a mother and her daughter. Both Chapman and her mother Edith always felt incomplete, and part of that reason was because they never faced their past or knew much about it, but another part would have to be because they never felt close to each other. Chapman wanted desperately to know about her past but Edith did not want to relive the horrors of it. It wasn't until their trip to Germany together that they finally started to understand each other.
I myself have never felt that close to my mother by it never made me feel incomplete the way Chapman felt.
I would not recommend this book nor would i read it a second time.
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