The Bond between Women

by China Galland

Weaving myths and travel narrative into a record of the spiritual journey, the author celebrates the fierce compassion of goddess archetypes and images around the world and shows how they inspire such heroines as Mother Teresa's Sisters. Reprint.

Genres: Nonfiction, Buddhism, Womens, Religion, Feminism, Spirituality, Philosophy

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Rachel]

Read around 2000; my review from then: The author traveled to Nepal, India, Brazil, and Argentina, looking for fierce female deities and their relation to compassion, especially how to stay c0mpassionate in the face of horrible social injustices that she almost inadvertently was exposed to. Good reading.

[Veronica Ibarra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book not long after it came out in the late 90s, but allowed it to sit upon my bookshelf unread until now. I had attempted to read it a few times, but each time I put it back after a few pages. I can only conclude that I was not yet ready for the power of the words contained within its pages.

Galland's words, her journey, and all those she spoke to, sharing their words, sharing the myths and legends of feminine divinities...I am left with a profound understanding of things I had only begun to feel and explore myself. This is one of the most important books in my personal library and one I hope someday my own daughter will read.

There is much to meditate on.

[Dr.Halina Krupa · Rating 5 out of 5]

As always China Galland's books come to me at the perfect time. I recommend this book for any woman feeling a kind of 'fierce compassion', as the author puts it--you are done with the bullshit of the world yet you are not sure how to rise your feminine spirit from the grips of fear, complacency, illusion. This travel/memoir will inspire you to some action and show you what other women are doing to heal the world, and how the Sacred Feminine is revealing her face in all traditions from Mother Mary to Kali.

[Renee Legris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one. First, I have to admit I did not finish the book. I got about 3/4 of the way through it. However I always felt I SHOULD be more engaged in this book.

China is a gifted writer. She can set a scene, catch a detail, write a beautiful sentence. I am still puzzled about my reaction to her book. She seems to be a sincere reporter about the people she meets and the things she sees. I would never have made the choices she did about where to travel, and the people she works so hard to meet. On the other hand, when she tells stories about poor families in Nepal selling their young daughters to the Indian sex trade, or the "disappeared" in Argentina, or South American children who live in vast slums under freeways... These are things happening to real people in the same world I live in - isn't it good for me to know these things? Does my heart expand enough to feel real compassion for them? Does that actually help (them or me) in any way?

The people she tracks down and talks to are all women who are devoting their lives to helping people in these terrible situations. But the help (except perhaps for a couple days spent volunteering in one of Mother Teresa's shelters) seems like such a tiny drop in a very big bucket. Am I supposed to admire these women so much that I want to be like them?

Sigh. The author is a good reporter, like a camera we can look through to see where she has been. Maybe I would have appreciated more of a look into the mind behind the camera - why she chooses to point the lens where she does? But clearly she's telling these stories exactly as she wants to. I just couldn't take any more!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part exploratory memoir on her own spiritual journey while travelling and looking at society and the raw difficulties women confront and how they work to heal both inwardly and outwardly. A lot of beauty as well in looking at womens ways, myths and religious images. Probably would have enjoyed it more at a differant stage in life or read it around the time it was published.

[Malagu Leticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice book

[Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of China Gallands earlier books, and probably more readable because of that. It describes her journey to discover the divine feminine in the two religions (Catholicism and Buddhism) she personally holds dear. She does this through meeting and living the lives of those at grass-roots level who she believes are filled with "fierce compassion". Her journey turns out to be much more uncomfortable than she bargained for, and she has to deal with anger, hatred, and her own suppressed past.

I was captivated by the stories from Hindu, Buddhist, Egyptian, Greek and Catholic mythology, and how they were interwoven into the narrative to help tell the story. And it was a really good story, bringing to life the day-to-day realities of trying to live a compassionate spiritual life in places where poverty, violence and political strife are part of the everyday fabric. China experiences these dilemmas in Nepal, India, Argentina, and in her own back yard in the USA. Her experiences and what she learned are a great basis for understanding how to deal with the world with compassion. The reader will be amazed by the character of the women she learns from on her journey.

Her writing flows, and other then one or two sections in which the text descended into too much minute detail without any benefit, I could not put the book down.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book documents a journey around the world, built around questions of how people - and especially women - integrate anger within their spiritual lives. The author, a North American Christian, does a noteworthy job of encountering and learning from the rest of the world on its own terms. Her own story as an abuse survivor is an important part within the work of the book but does not dominate it.

[Susannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I feel 'fierce compassion' between women, which is what attracted me to this book. But not my cup of tea, pretty rambling, disjointed, the good ideas get swallowed up into a whole lot of gobbledygook! Glad to have finished it.

[Heidi Arata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very different than I was expecting. It was engaging in a number of ways that push you out of your comfort zones and into heightened senses of awareness and compassion for your fellow beings. I can't help feeling I don't do enough after reading this book.

[Karla · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book was incredibly profound and at times very difficult to read...it's the kind of book that changes you, or at least leaves a lasting imprint.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second read.. amazing book. Not my favorite title (the "bond between women"part feels a little Hokey) but an great book for when you are Lost.

[Aleta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very powerful book.

[Anita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overview of how women rely on each other around the world. It's inclusive of religious and social aspects of relationships between women and the people around them.