3 Quotes by Jane Tompkins

I began to listen to myself more... Trusting myself, I discovered, meant giving up control over my decisions. The choice came from me, but not from the part of me that used to decide—the mind that weighed, the mind that projected scenarios, the mind that controlled.

Look, I know from the outside it doesn't look so bad... I know I had all the advantages. I know my parents loved me. But that makes it worse, don't you see?... The way it is, all the unhappiness seems to be my responsibility, my fault.

Mother Land provides evidence that growth in self-understanding can be achieved at a late stage of life -- Theroux is in his seventies -- evidence that the story is not over yet and that new insight and change can take place until the end.