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cindymarieo's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Stalking, and Child abuse
massivepizzacrust's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Even though a lot of the details of Ford's life are completely different to mine, I connected to this memoir to the point of crying. I wish everyone would read this, especially if you've struggled with your family before. There is a lot more covered in this memoir than family relationships but I went into it without knowing much more and I recommend you do the same.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, and Stalking
Minor: Child death, Cursing, and Panic attacks/disorders
morgankopanski's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Child abuse
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
bella_cavicchi's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
4.5 stars. I am apparently a sucker for coming-of-age narratives (hehe), and this marks one of the best I've read in a while. Much gratitude to Ford for sharing a thoughtful exploration of what defines home and family (and why) with us readers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Rape
Moderate: Stalking
patricia_epub's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
“When you write about you and me? Just tell the truth. Your truth. Don’t worry about nobody’s feelings, especially not mine. You gotta be tough to tell your truth, but it’s the only thing worth doing next to loving somebody.”
This is a pleasant, spontaneous read that I am so glad I picked up (or clicked on, rather). Ashley C. Ford is a thoughtful writer and this fact shone through the way she wrote her memoir. Her experiences were deeply emotional, scarring, and painful—but she told her story, her truth, with the careful gentleness of someone who struggled for a long time but has also started healing (and continues to heal up to this day), someone who's been learning to be kinder to their selves. She wrote with understanding of the people who shaped her, good and bad. Wrote with sobriety that I think accorded much more nuance to the tone of her memoir.
As I said in my initial impression of this book, there is just so much to unpack. The Black experience is there tied with poverty, trauma, and the universal struggles of women: sexualization of women’s bodies, rape, and assault. There is also the inescapable struggle to reconcile her trauma with her absent father, and the truth behind his absence. Her tumultuous relationship with a detached, abusive single mother. The complicated feelings she associates with a grandmother who is both her loving caregiver but also her harshest critic.
I am truly glad to have heard this story from the author herself through her wonderful narration of the audiobook.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual assault
Minor: Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Stalking, Bullying, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders
ebonyrose's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
This will be a tough one to review, because it just did not quite work for me, and there are a couple main reasons why.
I've admired Ashley C. Ford's writing and social media presence for a while, and I was very excited about this book. I'll start with the good: the writing here is strong, and compelling. Ashley writes unflinchingly about her experiences, and there is an emotional quality to the writing that I found brave.
In terms of what didn't work, there were two major issues for me. Firstly, I think this book is inaccurately advertised. The description/synopsis of the book leads you to believe the book is mostly about Ashley's relationship with her absent father, who is incarcerated for a crime that she doesn't learn the details of until she's a near-adult. However, the book actually *barely* skims that topic. Ashley's father, and her relationship to him, takes up maybe 15% of the book. Somebody's Daughter is actually much more about Ashley's childhood, her fraught relationship with her mother, and her experience with rape/sexual violence. All of that is fine - and interesting on its own, but the book's marketing is misleading, and that's what my issue is. If the book was more accurately described and marketed, I'm not sure I would have picked it up. As someone who grew up with a mostly absent father as well, I thought I would find some solace in this book, some understanding, some validation of what that kind of growing up is like. My father was not incarcerated like Ashley's, but I assumed this book would explore what it is like to have a complicated and absent parent who struggles with complicated and unnamed things. But, this memoir really didn't go there, despite it being the first paragraph of the description. For example, the synopsis says "Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley finally finds out why her father is in prison. And that's where the story really begins." But - that is actually not true at all? Her story starts long before that. And, when she finds out her father's crime, the book barely explores its implications. Barely.
Secondly, though well written, the memoir is lacking a narrative thread, something to tie the chapters and stories together. Each chapter kind of floats on its own, and very few of them work to tell a singular story, and I found the lack of cohesion to be disorienting and it worked to pull me out of the memoir, rather than drawing me in.
Overall, I would say this book is worth a read if you go into it with a clear understanding of what it's actually about. Ashley C. Ford lived a difficult life, and she explores those difficulties with tenderness and honesty, and that is always something to be commended - I just wish I knew what exactly I was in for before diving into this one.
I've admired Ashley C. Ford's writing and social media presence for a while, and I was very excited about this book. I'll start with the good: the writing here is strong, and compelling. Ashley writes unflinchingly about her experiences, and there is an emotional quality to the writing that I found brave.
In terms of what didn't work, there were two major issues for me. Firstly, I think this book is inaccurately advertised. The description/synopsis of the book leads you to believe the book is mostly about Ashley's relationship with her absent father, who is incarcerated for a crime that she doesn't learn the details of until she's a near-adult. However, the book actually *barely* skims that topic. Ashley's father, and her relationship to him, takes up maybe 15% of the book. Somebody's Daughter is actually much more about Ashley's childhood, her fraught relationship with her mother, and her experience with rape/sexual violence. All of that is fine - and interesting on its own, but the book's marketing is misleading, and that's what my issue is. If the book was more accurately described and marketed, I'm not sure I would have picked it up. As someone who grew up with a mostly absent father as well, I thought I would find some solace in this book, some understanding, some validation of what that kind of growing up is like. My father was not incarcerated like Ashley's, but I assumed this book would explore what it is like to have a complicated and absent parent who struggles with complicated and unnamed things. But, this memoir really didn't go there, despite it being the first paragraph of the description. For example, the synopsis says "Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley finally finds out why her father is in prison. And that's where the story really begins." But - that is actually not true at all? Her story starts long before that. And, when she finds out her father's crime, the book barely explores its implications. Barely.
Secondly, though well written, the memoir is lacking a narrative thread, something to tie the chapters and stories together. Each chapter kind of floats on its own, and very few of them work to tell a singular story, and I found the lack of cohesion to be disorienting and it worked to pull me out of the memoir, rather than drawing me in.
Overall, I would say this book is worth a read if you go into it with a clear understanding of what it's actually about. Ashley C. Ford lived a difficult life, and she explores those difficulties with tenderness and honesty, and that is always something to be commended - I just wish I knew what exactly I was in for before diving into this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence
Minor: Cancer
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