... Nevertheless, this is not a book about politics; far from! It is a book about one woman's journey through life, specifically relating to the issues surrounding the loss of her beloved father, and how she reconciled all of her feelings concerning this loss. Along the way, she weaves a tapestry of the tales of other women who also dealt with issues surrounding their fathers, and how the loss of their fathers may have affected them in positive and / or negative ways. The inclusion of all of these other stories makes this a far richer and more interesting book than if it were only about the life of the author. In fact, I can see this book being used as a textbook in college sociology courses on family values. It is that good!
... Here is an example of one insight she shares with us, from pages 64 and 65: "Indeed, the best indication of how we will grieve and recover from our loss may not lie in how our fathers die, but in how we dealt with them living. And for those of us who were unable to make peace with our fathers during their lifetimes, our way to peace and to healing may lie in accepting this lack of resolution, accepting our own and our fathers' flaws. Even if our fathers cannot at this final crisis abandon their illusions about their role, and our relationship, we must. For only by letting go of the fantasy of the perfect daddy, and of the perfect deathbed reconciliation, can we achieve anything resembling closure." ... How intuitively profound!
... You know, I picked up this book in order to help me better understand people who are close to me who have lost their fathers at an early age, in order to be more sympathetic toward them and more considerate of their feelings and experiences. I was well rewarded, for, not only did I gain a greater understanding of the feelings of the loss of one's father from the perspective of a daughter, I also learned that many of these emotions are shared by ALL of us. Ultimately, we ALL have to one day face the inevitable loss of BOTH our parents - our fathers AND our mothers. Reading this book, somehow, makes that inevitable, one-day reality just a bit easier to accept and understand. It's a great comfort to the soul. ... BRAVO, Clea Simon! ... YOWZA! - The Aeolian Kid