Jedidiah Jenkins' memoir was full of real, raw life experiences. He and his mom take a trip across America, the same route she and her ex-husband had taken decades before.

What made this story so interesting was the deep reflection Jedidiah did while recounting their journey. His mom, a very religious woman, has strong opinions against the way Jedidiah lives his life as an openly gay man. As a reader, we get to see how they navigate this very difficult barrier between them. It's painful but it's honest.

The memoir touches on topics that most people can relate to: struggling through faith, confronting conflict with family, a desire for love, and more. I highly recommend it!

A big thank you to NetGalley and Convergent Books for an ARC of this memoir in exchange for my honest review.

This book was published on November 7th, 2023 (I'm a little late :))

JEDIDIAH JENKINS. I will literally read anything he writes. He is a king living among us. I loved this just as much as I've loved all of Jenkins work. I can not recommend him enough, 5 stars!

Unfortunately, halfway through, I had no idea why I was continuing to read this book or what it was trying to say. While it never feels fair to judge a deeply personal memoir, I just could not get through the writing. Why were there page long excerpts of podcasts? Why where there so many unnecessary details of conversations that don't move the narrative along? I found myself annoyed not by Jedediah and his mother, but by the fact that I spent hours reading half of this book and still had no sense of connection to them or their story.

I was drawn to Mother, Nature primarily because someone close to me is wrestling with the same core question that this book looks to address. That is, “How can someone maintain a relationship with a family member or friend when they won’t fully accept you for who you are?” In Jenkins case, his mother has shown consistent disapproval of his sexuality as a gay man, and yet his desire for relationship with her persists… but not without strain and conflict.

Jenkins is a beautiful storyteller, sharing poignantly about his 2 week journey across America (by car), retracing the steps that his mother and father made 40 years prior on foot. His memory and depiction of the conversations had between them over that two week period is astounding. It honestly felt like I was a third person driving along with them on their journey.

I will say however that I was a little disappointed that more time wasn’t given to the core question that this book tries to give focus to. Finishing the book, I felt like something was left undone. Like nothing really changed for either of the main characters. But maybe that’s a part of the point. That love can still exist while opinions still differ. I will say that Jenkins does a masterful job in the way he writes about his mother. He holds back no punches yet paints her as human and utterly lovable. He wants to honour her and their relationship yet he wants his audience to know how much damage her words and her beliefs have caused.

This lingering feeling that there was a lack of resolve is really the only reason I’m giving this book 4 stars and not 5. Thanks to NetGalley and Convergent Publishing for the advanced copy. I’m really glad I had the chance to read it.

This is a funny and heartfelt story of a complicated mother/son relationship explored in a unique way and it’s an inspirational story story of what can happen when we look for common ground in a relationship instead of what’s different about the other person.

A son and his 70-year old mother take a road trip to trace the walk she did with her husband in the 1970s. Jed welcomes the chance to get to know his beloved mother better, but mainly to get the answer to a burning question: If/when he were to marry a man, would she attend the wedding?
Jedidiah’s (Jed’s) homosexuality goes against his mother’s religious beliefs. While he adores her, and their relationship is strong, she cannot accept that he is gay, believing this to be unnatural. All Jed wants is to find Mr Right, get married, and have a family – anathema to Barbara.
How will the two survive the 5,000-mile journey with such diametrically opposed views?
I really enjoyed Jed Jenkins’ writing style, his commentary and his insights into his relationship with his mother. I also relished the journey, and the fascinating information he shares along the way. Barbara keeps flipping through her own notes from her walk all those years ago, adding another interesting dimension.
I was hoping for a different answer to his looming question, an answer I had to wait until almost the end of the book for. The story is honest, poignant, entertaining – and very readable.

This is a placeholder review as I have not yet finished reading it. I will update the review when I finish reading the book.

Thank you to Net Galley and Convergent Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This is a road trip memoir and at the heart is a mother-son relationship filled with love yet there is one thing the author wants from his mother - acceptance of being gay. As his mother is in her 70s, he has the realization that she isn't going to be around forever and he wants to spend more time with her, also to have further discussions about being gay. His mother is conservative and religious and has told him she loves him deeply but cannot accept his decision to be gay. In the 70s, his parents did a cross country walk from New Orleans to Oregon and wrote a book about it that became a bestseller. They decide to retrace their steps together, a mix of walking and driving. The author learns more about his mother, what happened on the walk, but also what informs some of her life decisions now. It was a lovely story of understanding, forgiveness and having empathy in the face of strong disagreement to find the middle ground to choose to love each other.

Traveling with someone is such a good way to get to know different parts of them, and Jedidiah Jenkins takes on this task with his mother, who loves him deeply but refuses to reconcile her faith with his sexuality. Recreating the famous journey his parents took in the 1970s from New Orleans to Oregon, this story feels so incredibly personal and emotionally available as Jenkins and his mother talk about all the big things and small things they differ on and connect on, as he sees his mother for all her flaws and her love. Readers can feel the emotional wrestling as each of them try to come to terms with the limitations of their relationship, and the pain of knowing his mother will not waver. I really like the way Jenkins writes, and this was an excellent narrative.

As newlyweds, the author's parents walked from New Orleans to Florence, Oregon, a trip that was covered by and featured in National Geographic and resulted in several successful books. In "Mother, Nature", the author (Jedidiah) and his mother (Barbara) recreate the trip via car. Reading about this trip was fascinating and enjoyable. Barbara and her husband had some crazy experiences on the trip (being chased by drunks, being hit by a car (Barbara)), but also some very heartwarming experiences as people they met along the way provided them with various types of assistance/support as needed. On the road trip, Barbara brings her old journals and reads passages from her journals to her son as they revisit the places that she walked through decades earlier. The author does a great job of conveying her mother's excitement at finding places that were meaningful to her on the trip, such as houses where they stayed, and sharing details of her adventures.

Central to the book is the mother-son relationship. Jedidiah is gay, which is something his mother, a conservative Christian, has difficulty accepting. There are some prohibitions in the Bible that she is willing to see as contextual/time specific, but there are others that are absolutes for her, including what she and many other Christians believe is a condemnation of homosexuality as a sin. [Like the author, I believe that is a misunderstanding of the relevant verses.] Jedidiah tried for many years to not be "gay." It should come as no surprise that those efforts failed. However, as a result, it took years for him to accept that being gay was not only a core aspect of his identity, but also a valid and valuable part of who he was; it did not define him but denying that aspect of himself did a great disservice. Barbara's inability/unwillingness to accept her son for who he was had long been a source of tension between them. However, valuing his relationship with his mother, Jedidiah has found ways to maintain that relationship, which is reflected in and discussed in the book.

Jedidiah makes clear in the book that there are some situations where a person, for the sake of their own physical and/or mental health, cannot maintain a relationship with their family or specific family members. He also expresses understanding for the many people who have chosen, for their own wellbeing, to cut off relationships with family members who cannot or will not accept or validate core aspects of the person. However, in his particular situation, he has chosen to maintain a good relationship with his mother.

In a world that tries to divide us, Jenkins writing and relationship to his mother reminds us to why we need to stay connected. We don't have to compromise our beliefs, but we have still stand our ground with those that we love. I love Jenkins other books and this is no exception. He writes so poignantly. The best compliment I can give him is that he makes me want to write more myself.

I finished this book and immediately wanted to hug it.

It’s about a road trip adventure that Jedidiah Jenkins embarks upon with his mother, retracing the path she and Jedidiah’s father walked back in the late 1970s, from New Orleans to the Pacific coast of Oregon.

It’s also about how it feels to realize your parents are aging and will one day die. About understanding that they were once young people who had dreams and aspirations and adventures long before you came along.

It’s about wanting to learn everything you can about your parents and make meaningful connection with them while you still can. About finding unexpected points of commonality, like true crime podcasts or tiny old thrift stores. About wanting desperately to feel like they’re proud of you and approve of the life you’re building, and, most important, about figuring out how to be okay if you don’t ever get the acknowledgment and blessing that you seek.

If you have a complicated relationship with one or both of your parents, if you’ve evolved away from the religion of your upbringing, or you identify as queer and your family isn’t completely okay with it, if you find yourself compartmentalizing your existence to protect your own and/or your parents’ feelings… this book might be perfect for you. It was for me.

Jedidiah Jenkins’ writing is beautiful. He’s thoughtful and funny and honest and kind. His words are a balm, and I already can’t wait to read more from him.

Also, I recommend checking out Jedidiah’s ‘BarbAcrossUSA’ story highlight on Instagram as a companion to this book. It was so fun to put a visual with a lot of what he describes on the page.

5 / 5 ⭐️'ˢ

“Mother, Nature: A 5,000-Mile Journey to Discover if a Mother and Son Can Survive Their Differences” By Jedidiah Jenkins

📕 Edition: eBook & Audiobook

This heartfelt memoir took me on an emotional 5,000-mile journey, just like the author and his mother, Barbara. As someone raised in a religious household, I deeply connected with the themes of faith and family that permeate this book.

Jenkins beautifully weaves a story of love and differences, taking us on a trip through the American landscape and the complexities of human relationships. I was captivated by the exploration of how beliefs can pull families apart but also how shared passions and experiences can bring them closer.

The bond between Jedidiah and his mother is both touching and thought-provoking. The journey to retrace the steps of Barbara's iconic walk across America in the '70s is a wonderful backdrop for their evolving relationship.

👩‍👦 As they grapple with their disagreements, the story delves into universal questions of family, boundaries, and standing up for oneself. This book is a tender and profound meditation on love and resilience.

Jenkins offers a moving and relatable narrative that reminds us of the enduring power of family bonds despite our differences. 🌟

Thank you @NetGalley , Jedidiah Jenkins and @Convergent_Books for providing me with this ARC.

A book about retracing the route his mother walked from New Orleans to Franklin Oregon with his mother along for the ride. He intends to ask her along the route whether her religious convictions are unassailable or whether she could joyfully attend a wedding between him and another man who is not even on the horizon. She will not. The bright spots in this tome all center around his mother whose personality sings on the page. She is well content with her life and her beliefs. He comes to accept her while rejecting her core beliefs.

A wonderful read a trip with Jedediah Jenkins and his mother.A fascinating look at their relationship their discussions are moving & eye opening as they learn more& more about each other ,another wonderful book by the author.#netgalley #convergentbooks

Jedidiah Jenkins and his mother Barbara set off on a road trip across the United States. They are retracing the steps she originally walked across the country with her ex-husband. Jedidiah is a gay man, and his mother believes that homosexuality is a sin. They still love each other, but there is a barrier between them because Barbara cannot fully accept her son.

Jenkins starts some dense conversations about religion and what it means to love people under God. As a queer person that grew up going to church, it is not something that is easily dealt with. I really enjoyed the way Jenkins was able to balance his love for his mother with his own happiness. I enjoyed many of their car ride conversations. There were a few podcast parts that were a little mundane for me. However, overall, I feel it was a very powerful book. It got me thinking about some of my own relationships with people. I highly recommend it to anyone that is queer or family members of queer people. I give it 3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4.

"Mother, Nature" is my first read by Jedidiah Jenkins. The plot was intriguing; a son who happens to be LGBTQIA travels with his (firmly conservative) mother from New Orleans to the Oregon coast, retracing a journey she once took with his father. They bond as they listen to podcasts and watch "Ghost Watchers" and other light cultural fare. I was more curious to know how their journey would end and if Jenkins could get the answer/approval he wished for, at times skimming past the descriptions and podcasts to get to their deeper conversations. Although the ending didn't bring the closure I wished for the author, it contains a realistic kind of mastery. I will be holding onto this book. Thanks so NetGalley for the ARC.

So many thoughts to put in order about this book that I really enjoyed. First of all, I relished all the details of this mother/son trip retracing by car the journey that the son’s mother and father took by foot in the 1970’s. Secondly, it provides food for thought in this era of untempered hostility toward those who do not share our core opinions. The author’s mother’s beliefs as far as politics and religion are concerned could not be more opposite to my own and yet she is interested in the life and people around her and, like me, she unreservedly loves her children. So here is the dilemma. Are all individuals who disagree with our opinions irredeemable and worthy of a complete shunning or can we find a way to live with each other? A conundrum for sure. In the case of the mother in this book, I find myself unable to dislike her no matter how much I vehemently disagree with her.

“I was willing to blow it all up for my truth”

I would really rate this book at 3.5 stars. At times it seems as though the story focuses on the mundane moments of the road trip with his mother, I.e. what podcasts they were listening to, etc. While I recognize that these moments were added to show that even with seemingly easy topics such as what to listen to on a road trip, they are always inevitably interspersed with the tension of the different beliefs him and his mom have. I like that he showed that ever present top toeing, but it still made it less engaging to get through.

However where this book really shines is adding language to the difficulty of having parents that disagree with who you are at your core, and still always trying and hoping to bridge that gap to gain acceptance. It was a very vulnerable and open topic, while still trying to be respectful of his mother, and show how much love he still has for her.

It made me reflect on relationships and situations in my own life in new ways, which was incredible to have a book continually stick with you even after putting it down.

Thank you, NetGalley for an ARC of this book.
I really enjoyed this memoir which focuses on a mother-son relationship. As they take a trip recounting the mother's past trip, they have conversations about their differing worldviews. As the story progresses through difficult conversations, Jedidiah the son realizes that even though he and his mom will never see eye to eye, though this does not mean they do not have a love for each other.