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itsmeamethyst's review against another edition
5.0
Ashley Ford reckons with her past and family in this heart-piercing memoir. It shows the power in telling your truth and documenting your story. Listened to the audiobook. Loved both hearing her narrate it as well as the bonus interview with Clint Smith.
Full of vulnerability, pain and trauma, letting go of (other’s) shame - but also support and agency. Explores identity, coming of age, home, nurture and friendship, complicated relationships, enduring love, and reclamation.
Content warning: rape, depression, and abuse.
This book took me on an emotional journey. Wish I read it when I was younger and am thinking of the young people in my life to gift this to. Much of Ford’s life happens in my home state of Indiana, making me connect with her story even more.
Full of vulnerability, pain and trauma, letting go of (other’s) shame - but also support and agency. Explores identity, coming of age, home, nurture and friendship, complicated relationships, enduring love, and reclamation.
Content warning: rape, depression, and abuse.
This book took me on an emotional journey. Wish I read it when I was younger and am thinking of the young people in my life to gift this to. Much of Ford’s life happens in my home state of Indiana, making me connect with her story even more.
maryc79's review against another edition
5.0
Wow!!! Ms Ford has an amazing writing ability. Her ability to describe experiences in her life that are not describable is awe inspiring. I look forward to reading many books in this young woman’s life for years to come.
elizdancer1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
t_bonzey's review against another edition
4.0
3.75/ 4⭐️ {Book}
Eye opening memoir about telling one’s truth and healing from trauma. It’s not an easy read. Book leaves you with a lot to sit, soak in and think about. This book is less about her relationship with her imprisoned father (which is what you think it’s going to be about) and more with her mother’s relationship and how big a role her grandmother played. It was different than my typical read.
Eye opening memoir about telling one’s truth and healing from trauma. It’s not an easy read. Book leaves you with a lot to sit, soak in and think about. This book is less about her relationship with her imprisoned father (which is what you think it’s going to be about) and more with her mother’s relationship and how big a role her grandmother played. It was different than my typical read.
krowell03's review against another edition
4.0
this book started off a little slow but once it picked up it did. there are some parts in the book that i can relate to a lot and it really tugged at my heart. i applaud ashley c. ford for being so open with her story!
loriluo's review against another edition
4.0
I hadn't read anything of Ashley Ford's prior to reading this novel, but I think going in without any assumptions or biases worked in my favor. "Somebody's Daughter" is Ford's memoir of growing up as a black girl in America, and the endless difficulties and obstacles she faced.
There's so many important topics that Ford covers, that I don't even know where to begin - racism, poverty, rape, sexism, sexuality, mental health, parental figures (and the lack of them)... Many of the memories she recounts are painful and infuriating, but there's a certain poignancy and clarity to her words looking back at them that make them more than just a singular event that happened in her life. What was most difficult for me to get through, however, was the relationship with her parents. Her mother who was unpredictable and at times abusive, and she almost didn't even know her father, who was incarcerated for rape and imprisoned for most of Ford's childhood.
"Coming of age" doesn't seem to do Ford's memoir justice, but her story is an inspiring one that extends past her years.
There's so many important topics that Ford covers, that I don't even know where to begin - racism, poverty, rape, sexism, sexuality, mental health, parental figures (and the lack of them)... Many of the memories she recounts are painful and infuriating, but there's a certain poignancy and clarity to her words looking back at them that make them more than just a singular event that happened in her life. What was most difficult for me to get through, however, was the relationship with her parents. Her mother who was unpredictable and at times abusive, and she almost didn't even know her father, who was incarcerated for rape and imprisoned for most of Ford's childhood.
"Coming of age" doesn't seem to do Ford's memoir justice, but her story is an inspiring one that extends past her years.
jenmkin's review against another edition
3.0
I so badly want to love this memoir as a whole because I do love so many pieces of it, but it feels disjointed. I appreciate the honesty with which Ford writes, and hearing how she found herself and learned and grew is a privilege as a reader. The ending, however, the ultimate point of the memoir, felt disconnected from the rest of it. The messages that Ford communicates throughout feel dulled rather than sharpened by her final point, and that's disappointing.