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thenorthernlibrarian's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
gijs's review against another edition
4.0
3,5 stars; Stories told by a psychoanalist, in the form of 8 case studies of families, each with their own issues. Real life experiences told well, but missed the deep analytical part; the narrative mainly remains at the level of events and too sparingly dives into the inner workings of family dynamics.
scottishlindsay's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
cathylpowell's review against another edition
4.0
Firstly thank you to the publisher for my advanced reading copy.
I am fond of learning more about certain topics and delving into 'family' seemed like an interesting one to go for. This proved to be a particularly powerful read. Samuel profiles 8 families and shares their therapy sessions and notes on these. All of the families had a certain issue going on and I found it a rather powerful read. I highlighted some passages that I found particularly moving.
I am fond of learning more about certain topics and delving into 'family' seemed like an interesting one to go for. This proved to be a particularly powerful read. Samuel profiles 8 families and shares their therapy sessions and notes on these. All of the families had a certain issue going on and I found it a rather powerful read. I highlighted some passages that I found particularly moving.
lory_enterenchanted's review against another edition
This book was not what I expected. I thought it would go into how trauma in past generations affects the present. It glanced at that idea but didn't go deeply into it. In the first story seemed like a missed opportunity -- the main client was a man who found out the father who'd raised him was not his biological father, but the mother was too much lost in her own world to become part of the conversation, and once the man found out who his father was, it was just left at that. The next two stories were not around crises, which was refreshing, but some troubling elements came up that were not addressed. I stopped reading at this point.
Overall, the book could have been called "Every Therapist Has a Story," because it was so much about Samuel's own experiences and impressions rather than those of the actual families. She was constantly making assumptions and interpretations, which of course one does when meeting and assessing people, but she never bothered to check whether her notions were true. This, along with the missed opportunities to go deeper, made the whole process seem quite superficial.
A quote that stood out: "From my own experience and what I have learnt from the families in this book, when comparing non-biologically and biologically related families, the stories we tell ourselves become who we are. When we are told truthful stories, we trust that we are loved and belong. And we thrive, whatever our genetic inheritance or connection." (Introduction)
Also interesting was the "Do you know" scale - developed by Dr Marshall Duke and Dr Robyn Fivush to ask adolescents about their family. "They found those who knew more of their family history showed higher levels of self-esteem, lower levels of behavior problems and more self-efficacy -- they trusted they could influence their world." (The Wynne Family)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-stories-our-lives/201611/the-do-you-know-20-questions-about-family-stories
Overall, the book could have been called "Every Therapist Has a Story," because it was so much about Samuel's own experiences and impressions rather than those of the actual families. She was constantly making assumptions and interpretations, which of course one does when meeting and assessing people, but she never bothered to check whether her notions were true. This, along with the missed opportunities to go deeper, made the whole process seem quite superficial.
A quote that stood out: "From my own experience and what I have learnt from the families in this book, when comparing non-biologically and biologically related families, the stories we tell ourselves become who we are. When we are told truthful stories, we trust that we are loved and belong. And we thrive, whatever our genetic inheritance or connection." (Introduction)
Also interesting was the "Do you know" scale - developed by Dr Marshall Duke and Dr Robyn Fivush to ask adolescents about their family. "They found those who knew more of their family history showed higher levels of self-esteem, lower levels of behavior problems and more self-efficacy -- they trusted they could influence their world." (The Wynne Family)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-stories-our-lives/201611/the-do-you-know-20-questions-about-family-stories
frozenheartv's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
4 stars
It’s great to see the diversity of the families mentioned in the book. It’s reflective and related to hear their stories. It’s like being in therapy sessions, observe them and then learn something for myself. However, the families sometimes can be too “unique” that i can’t relate, therefore, it’s harder to follow and keep reading. Great book on family relationships!
It’s great to see the diversity of the families mentioned in the book. It’s reflective and related to hear their stories. It’s like being in therapy sessions, observe them and then learn something for myself. However, the families sometimes can be too “unique” that i can’t relate, therefore, it’s harder to follow and keep reading. Great book on family relationships!
readingresa's review
2.5
I don't really know how to rate this book. The very start was good, then I got frustrated by the author's constant self-insert when telling the stories about the families. I felt like yelling at the book "I don't care about your feelings or you telling us that you don't know what you're doing in this case!! Just tell me the story!!", but then sometimes I actually did learn some stuff from the different families, so idk...Just be aware that this book was written by a very privileged white British woman, and that although she tries to tell stories featuring families of colour, her constant need to tell the audience that she doesn't know what to do in their cases is very frustrating.
imperialcat's review against another edition
Boring. Just could not connect with the way the narrative was written.