Popular author Theodor Kallifatides flies from his home in Sweden to visit his ninety-two-year-old mother in Athens, Greece, his homeland. At sixty-eight-years-old (when first published in Swedish), he reads affectionately and admiringly from his late father’s memoir, the most endearing part of Mothers and Sons. Born in 1890, his father, lived through the transition from ancient to modern Greece, with the brutality of wars displacing and imprisoning him, interrupting his career as a teacher.
His father lived independently as a teenage student, with his mother bringing weekly supplies of food for him to cook. He closely describes earlier ways of traveling from village to town, from one region to another by ferry and bus in order to find work, with people standing at the terminus, waiting to invite passengers to stay in their homes. As hosts, these families received status for their welcoming offers in a culture where money was in far shorter supply and hotels were unaffordable.
The author’s mother is an unequivocally modern woman, despite her advanced years. Together, they enjoy reminiscing and the dishes she cooks for him. Mothers and Sons is an enjoyable read. Kallifatides, an accomplished writer, has more than forty books to his credit.
