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Review
"Incontinent on the Continent: My Mother, Her Walker, and Our Grand Tour of Italy...Christmas shares with her characteristic wit and humor about her decision to take her arthritic, incontinent and harsh-tongued mother (and her red walker) to Italy." (Sarnia Observer 20091001)
"Christmas is a fine travel writer, and the personal journey she shares is one with which more and more of us are dealing as all our lives move, with welcome and enriching detours, down their one-way streets." (Globe & Mail 20090622)
"Jane Christmas...has a memorable last name, but it will be etched in more people's memories come September, when she follows her funny 2007 travel book What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim with the true story of taking her mother to Italy, piquantly titled Incontinent on the Continent." (Canwest News Service 20090917)
"I'm certainly glad we had the trip. The book shows we had a wonderful time. It was good. It's no fun with a walker. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Toronto Star 20090919)
"The mother daughter relationship. For women writers it is the great volcano. You'd have to be crazy to go there, but then if you don't, you can't wear the t-shirt...Jane Christmas can tell you she knew it wasn't going to be like eating strawberries at Wimbledon...but she did not suspect, when she concocted the idea of traveling to Italy with her mother, just how challenging it would be, physically and psychologically." (Hamilton Spectator 20091125)
"Incontinent on the Continent is reader and traveler delight. It highlights being both a mother and daughter, reflecting on the experience of a woman raising children who suddenly realizes that all the nurturing and handholding she did with her kids must now be done with her mother, who in her childhood was her rock." (Bella Online )
"Christmas is a fine travel writer, and the personal journey she shares is one with which more and more of us are dealing as all our lives move, with welcome and enriching detours, down their one-way streets." (Globe & Mail 20090622)
"Jane Christmas...has a memorable last name, but it will be etched in more people's memories come September, when she follows her funny 2007 travel book What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim with the true story of taking her mother to Italy, piquantly titled Incontinent on the Continent." (Canwest News Service 20090917)
"I'm certainly glad we had the trip. The book shows we had a wonderful time. It was good. It's no fun with a walker. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Toronto Star 20090919)
"The mother daughter relationship. For women writers it is the great volcano. You'd have to be crazy to go there, but then if you don't, you can't wear the t-shirt...Jane Christmas can tell you she knew it wasn't going to be like eating strawberries at Wimbledon...but she did not suspect, when she concocted the idea of traveling to Italy with her mother, just how challenging it would be, physically and psychologically." (Hamilton Spectator 20091125)
"Incontinent on the Continent is reader and traveler delight. It highlights being both a mother and daughter, reflecting on the experience of a woman raising children who suddenly realizes that all the nurturing and handholding she did with her kids must now be done with her mother, who in her childhood was her rock." (Bella Online )
Product Description
Since the beginning of time, mothers and daughters have had notoriously fraught relationships. "Show me a mother who says she has a good or great relationship with her daughter," Jane Christmas writes, "and I'll show you a daughter who is in therapy trying to understand how it all went so horribly wrong."
To smooth over five decades of constant clashing, Christmas takes her arthritic, incontinent, and domineering mother, Valeria -- a cross between Queen Victoria and Hyacinth Bucket of the British comedy Keeping Up Appearances -- on a tour of Italy.
Neither has been to Italy before, but both are fans of ancient art, architecture, and history. Will gazing at the fruits of the Italian Renaissance be enough to spark a renaissance in their relationship? As they wander along the winding Amalfi Coast, traverse St. Peter's Square in Rome, and sample the wines of Tuscany -- walkers, biscuits, shawls, and medications in tow -- they revisit the bickering and bitterness of years past and reassess who they are and how they might reconcile their differences.
Unflinching and frequently hilarious, this book will speak to all women who have tried to make friends with their mothers.
(20100202)
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Italy hasn't been so badly abused since WWII,
By paperback pilgrim (Nelson, BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Incontinent On The Continent (Paperback)
I buy travelogues. I read travelogues. I love travelogues. I will read any travelogue I can get my hand on and I have never been disappointed, until now. I just finished reading Jane Christmas's Incontinent on the Continent and I disliked it so much that I felt I had to tell someone. I don't know if anyone will ever read this, but I fantasize that my work here today may prevent future horrible travelogues from happening.This book can be summarized thus: An aging woman, who is deeply in need of both therapy and self esteem, comes up with a very bad plan which involves taking her arthritic, diabetic, incontinent, prudish and elderly mother (whom she despises) to Italy, and then complains about it for 303 pages. I dare them to put that on the back of the book. Speaking of the back of the book, the writing is described as "frequently hilarious". Perhaps I read a different book. This book is frequently whiny, and not in a funny Bill Bryson sort of way. I continued reading until the end in the hope that the author would eventually locate her spine and put it to good use, but no, instead she basically has an epiphany that life is short, so why deal with the drooling purple elephant in the room when it's so much easier to keep up the act, smile waspy insincere smiles, and wash down all that nasty rage with a bottle of wine? That's inspiring stuff. I spent most of my time reading this book swearing and throwing it across the room. Three hundred pages of blaming her mother and Italy for her own psycho-spiritual issues and refusing to accept that she is eating the consequences of her own actions. Italy hasn't been so badly abused since WWII. I realize that there are probably a lot of spineless sixty-something women out there who hate their mothers and complain about everything. They will love this book. For the rest of us, it should come with a warning label reading "Bitter Wimps Only". I sure would have appreciated it.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Laughter + Therapy + Adventure,
By Avid Reader (Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Incontinent On The Continent (Paperback)
I really loved this book. Besides deftly exploring that minefield that can be a mother-daughter 'no man's land', this book gave me a glimpse into modern-day travel to ancient Italy. No, it wasn't a glimpse, I was there - I was a back-seat passenger on this life-altering journey. I saw the fields, the caves, the ancient trulli, the architecture and I felt Mom's barbs. "What about your hair?" had a particlar resonance. I heartily endorse this book for some laugh-out-loud moments along with 'fly on the wall' instant therapy. If this intrepid duo gets wanderlust again, can I carry the luggage? Thanks for letting me share your journey. A great read!
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
intelligent and insightful,
By
This review is from: Incontinent On The Continent (Paperback)
I picked up this book looking for possible pointers on travelling to Europe with my own mother and her walker. I could not put the book down, I could relate so easily to the author's situation and frustration and underlying love for her mother despite a somewhat difficult relationship. By the time I had finished this book, I had to run out to get Jane's previous book, "What the Psychic Told the Pilgrim". Thoroughly enjoyable read.
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