For instance, fleeing Nice and the Gestapo in 1943, Sacha sat in a different compartment to her son, lest the train was stopped and she blurted out that she was Jewish. At least with Gabriel in a different compartment, Sacha believed he just might survive if she was taken. But now I'm tired of my body and want to let go. One of the least attractive aspects of modern western European life is how little regard we have for motherhood, and for close family relations. Mothering is increasingly seen as a disgusting compulsive act that damages the child.
Careers are so much better.
As for family members who chose to live together throughout their lives, that's fine for the Aboriginal but in modern metropolitan society, it is at best suspect and, at worst, perverse. How nice, important, valuable and salutary therefore, to get A Life . It is set in our times, more or less, but it goes completely against the grain of our ghastly modern solipsisms and it moves the heart. The kind of mutual nurturing Josipovici describes is fast disappearing. At least we have a record here of one case where a mother and son were happy together, lived a long and productive life together, and didn't need to get their heads shrunk.