Embracing Persephone How to Be

Explores the relationship between mother and teenage daughters covering such topics as sexual issues, drugs, body image, and peer influence

Rutter (Celebrating Girls) employs the ancient Greek myth of Persephone--who leaves her mother, Demeter, each winter to be Hades' wife--to underscore the cyclical nature of the relationship between mother and daughter, in which separation and reunion are recurring themes. The analogy works well, and Rutter effectively makes the point that a mother must accept her daughter's coming of age while remaining constant and supportive. Rutter's text is practical, offering solid advice for use in the contemporary world of adolescent girls. She covers such topics as sexual issues, body image, drugs and peer influence, suggesting that mothers must be open to the realities of their daughters' lives while offering honest advice. She also urges women to recall their own adolescence in order to provide guidance and empathy. Rutter's comforting message regarding the pattern of loss and return inherent in raising an adolescent of any gender rings true, and a final chapter addressing the mother's own self-discovery in coping with "empty nest" syndrome is also reassuring. Mothers will find this an insightful book on the subject of raising teenage daughters as well as a helpful guide to their own self-reflection. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An adolescent girl's world is more complex and simply "wilder" than her mother's probably was. Rutter, a practicing psychologist and author of Celebrating Girls and Woman Changing Woman explores this idea by interweaving interviews and clinical perspectives with the myth of Persephone and her mother, Demeter. Along the way, she suggests strategies for mothers on guiding their daughters through the risky passage to maturity and promotes maternal self-reflection, flexibility, and permissiveness. Rutter's main goal is to help mothers stay "connected" to their daughters. She gives tips on communicating with teenagers, fostering a healthy body image, and dealing with sexual identity issues, friendships, and drug and alcohol abuse. Rutter also suggests positive ways to handle the "empty nest" syndrome and addresses the role of fathers in girls' development. This book would be useful even for all parents with teenage sons. Literary yet down-to-earth, this is recommended particularly for public libraries in suburban settings.AAntoinette Brinkman, Southwest Indiana Mental Health Ctr. Lib., Evansville
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.