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Are We There Yet?: Travels With My Frontline Family
This book is a true story about what it is like to be married to a war reporter and what it is like to have one for a dad. It's about being five-years old and wondering why Daddy's boots are covered in mud from a mass grave and who was in it. It's about sitting on the sofa at home and watching cruise missiles rain down on your father's head - then eating your baked beans and doing your homework.
It's the story of five kids growing up in the New Europe and trying to work out why some countries' supermarket shelves are empty and others groan with hundreds of different loo cleaners. How do they come to terms with the past, the present and the future, especially when the ghosts of Auschwitz come close to home and the scars of war are not easy to heal? And how do they work out who they are when their roots are scattered across the continent - what shall I be British, French, Jewish, Irish Catholic, English Protestant or how about Serbian or even Romanian?
It's the story of five kids growing up in the New Europe and trying to work out why some countries' supermarket shelves are empty and others groan with hundreds of different loo cleaners. How do they come to terms with the past, the present and the future, especially when the ghosts of Auschwitz come close to home and the scars of war are not easy to heal? And how do they work out who they are when their roots are scattered across the continent - what shall I be British, French, Jewish, Irish Catholic, English Protestant or how about Serbian or even Romanian?
- GenresNonfiction
251 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 2007
15 people want to read
About the author
Rosie Whitehouse
18 books6 followersRosie Whitehouse is a journalist specialising in Jewish life after the Holocaust. She writes for BBC Online, the Observer, The Independent, Tablet magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz and others. A graduate of the London School of Economics, she is an historical advisor at the Vienna-based Centropa, a Jewish history institute.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 12, 2023
Insightful and entertaining memoir of a British mother married to a war correspondent, who raises several kids in different parts of the Balkans, in the late 90s and early 2000s. She details the upbringing of her children in situations of food insecurity and armed conflict in a funny and at times quirky way. Are We There Yet? offers a unique perspective on war journalism, as well as on parenting children in different parts of Europe in times of uncertainty and crisis. Besides the slightly repetitive last several chapters, Rosie Whitehouse engages the reader with unique anecdotes and utterly interesting facts on our world's issues, never abandoning her upbeat albeit honest tone.
September 2, 2019
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Great descriptions of traveling through Europe with children. It’s both informative and funny. I loved reading the children’s conversations and observations about what was happening around them.
January 28, 2009
I vacillated between loving and hating this book.
The story (author follows war reporter husband around the Balkans during the nineties, dragging ever-expanding brood of kids with her) caught my attention, and the situations described are vivid and arresting, but I had a couple of problems with it. Firstly Whitehouse's narrative jumps all over the place, and from one chapter to the next you're often not sure where exactly they're living and how old the kids are (or even how many of them there are). Secondly, she has the hugely irritating habit of sprinkling, random commas, into her sentences which, kind of interrupt the flow. (also, Reportage Press really need to invest in a decent proofreader: "a look of distain"?).
But my main problem was with Whitehouse herself and her parenting techniques. At times I was incredulous as she dragged her toddlers/babies into some of the most dangerous places on earth because it made her "feel more alive", and the way she happily explained to children not yet old enough to read what ethnic cleansing is. On the other hand, as the children grow up (by the end of the book the eldest is 13) you can see the effect their upbringing has had on them, and how engaged they are with the world around them. This really comes home in the final third as they move back to the UK (which the children hate and can never think of as "home") and go on a trip to Germany to dig up their Jewish heritage. In this final section the theme of identity really comes to life and you feel that maybe their mother has given them something valuable after all.
The story (author follows war reporter husband around the Balkans during the nineties, dragging ever-expanding brood of kids with her) caught my attention, and the situations described are vivid and arresting, but I had a couple of problems with it. Firstly Whitehouse's narrative jumps all over the place, and from one chapter to the next you're often not sure where exactly they're living and how old the kids are (or even how many of them there are). Secondly, she has the hugely irritating habit of sprinkling, random commas, into her sentences which, kind of interrupt the flow. (also, Reportage Press really need to invest in a decent proofreader: "a look of distain"?).
But my main problem was with Whitehouse herself and her parenting techniques. At times I was incredulous as she dragged her toddlers/babies into some of the most dangerous places on earth because it made her "feel more alive", and the way she happily explained to children not yet old enough to read what ethnic cleansing is. On the other hand, as the children grow up (by the end of the book the eldest is 13) you can see the effect their upbringing has had on them, and how engaged they are with the world around them. This really comes home in the final third as they move back to the UK (which the children hate and can never think of as "home") and go on a trip to Germany to dig up their Jewish heritage. In this final section the theme of identity really comes to life and you feel that maybe their mother has given them something valuable after all.
January 28, 2016
This has been a great read, 5 months ago I knew nothing about the conflicts in the early
90’s and this book pieces it all together and you have to admire her courage raising 5
children. The way Whitehouse brings up her children is amazing and my only qualm is
that I would have liked to hear what her children ended up doing this may be the next
book.
90’s and this book pieces it all together and you have to admire her courage raising 5
children. The way Whitehouse brings up her children is amazing and my only qualm is
that I would have liked to hear what her children ended up doing this may be the next
book.
July 28, 2011
great book! as I'm croatian, it was interesting to read about her views on the war that was going on here. would recommend to everyone!
January 26, 2014
traveling with kids opens your eyes. very free spirit. husband and kids in bukarest, when Caucescou felt, Beograd, Sarajevo in war. Living lack of most of things, discover the child's identity.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews