Divided Lives: Dreams of a Mother and a Daughter Hardcover

I found this book very moving. A tale of the entwined (twinned) lives of a mother and a daughter; it goes beyond the usual bond, the normal modeling. This is a somewhat pathological relationship, yet the writer shows how, in untangling herself, she finds not only herself, but a way to be a mother to her own daughters. She grants them and supports them in their individuality. I've read all Gordon's books, and now understand her need to explore Eliot, Woolf, Wollstonencraft, Bronte. Her triumph is, however, 'Lives like Loaded Guns - Emily Dickinson and her family feuds'. It is apparent now why Gordon understood what 'the matter was' with Dickinson -- it must have leapt out from the pages of her poems.

Wonderful book, taking us directly to the origin and center of Gordon's oeuvre of literary biographies. She is among the very best we have.

This book was rivetting for me. I found it hard to put down, and returned to it with joy at the end of a busy working day.As a piece of modern history, it's illuminating in its personal detail of a white family who have coloured servants; the dawning awareness that this situation is untenable and will change, and change soon.As a family history, it's lively and full of delicate observations of loved and lovingly drawn characters, and of how each life unfolds. Central of course is the author's mother, Rhoda Press; and also her father; Rhoda's illness and the mores of the time that made such things unmentionable in polite society.The unfolding of Rhoda's life, and the relationship between Rhoda and Lyndall, in part inseparable from the political events around them, is a story written with sensitivity and keen observation. The pressures on both generations of women of the mores of their times, and the demand that female lives are lived in the shadow of supposedly more important male lives, are well explored.How each woman embraced her family life while also allowing her creative and intellectual life to develop is pivotal in importance in this story. These pressures and restrictions are the rumblings that birthed second wave feminism and changed expectations in heterosexual relationships all over the world in the decades immediately ahead.As such a story must, as it moves into Rhoda's last days, I felt the universality of the mother-daughter bond, and felt my own mother, long gone, around me; an ephemeral energy perhaps, yet also a common experience.I recommend it without hesitation.

This book provides insight into an intense mother- daughter relationship between Lyndall Gordon, biographer nonpareil, and her mother Rhoda Press, the poet.It is an extraordinary biography because Gordon's telling of the complex story is so natural yet so intricate, it's like giving birth. The reader is in for quite an adventure and my advice is to leave your judgmental robes at the door and walk into this book naked of all isms and attitudes.Yes, Gordon calls up events in history, the Jewish pogroms in 19th century Lithuania, the world wars, apartheid in South Africa, the birth of the State of Israel, the world of the modern poets, and the second wave of feminism in the 1970s. Yet all of these stand as a backdrop to the lives of the mother and daughter.Gordon is on a personal journey in DIVIDED LIVES and she compels us to travel with her.I recommend this book to any daughter who has tried to understand her mother. I also recommend it to any mother who tries to understand her daughter.

Gordon writes literary biographies and what I loved about this examination of her own life (this is an exploration of her relationship with her Mother) is the way that she weaves into it the literary interests that she and her Mother shared. In this way it's unusual and I'd recommend it to anyone who has an interest in literature and poetry written by women. One does not always envy Gordon as her Mother is a very intense presence and the relationship at times feels a little claustrophobic - however Gordon succeeds in offering a fair and non judgemental interpretation of her Mother's choices. You feel that Gordon is genuinely striving for truth and not (as some autobiography attempts to do) attempting to meet some need in herself by writing it. It's very honest and beautifully (often poetically) written.

This is a wonderfully deep and satisfying reflection on the intertwined (and divided) lives of a mother and daughter. I highly recommend it as an example of Gordon's unique talent in understanding writers as they develop within their environments. There are simply no cliches here, no standard labels, no generalization - only thoughtful consideration of the complexities of this specific mother and daughter relationship. I was repeatedly surprised (and pleased) at how it encouraged me to think about my own relationships to my mother and my daughter.

My first introduction to this author whom I had never heard of, would recommend this book for its intelligence and the insight it offers into the characters, also for the fact that the reader is credited with intelligence.

Interesting account of life in South Africa with apartheid and attitudes to women and faith. Autobiographical and typical of S.A.upper middle class life in the mid 20th century.