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A review by naharobed
Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
3.0
A very personal account of one woman’s childhood, shaped by the absence of her father, who is incarcerated, and a mother that doesn’t quite understand her. Ashley Ford writes with a clear and personable tone that is all her own. It’s an exploration of self discovery, coming of age, and finding herself when she has no one to rely on. It’s a journey of her path to self acceptance and self love. Her writing is very honest and she’s not afraid to be vulnerable
That being said, I felt like there was something lacking in this memoir. Her family plays a huge part in her life, both good and bad, but she glossed over significant portions of her life that I would have liked to read about. My biggest disappointment with this book was how little her father is actually mentioned. She doesn’t go into how the reason for her dad’s incarceration impacted her, even though it was shocking and frankly quite relevant to Ashley’s past. Also, it seemed like she cut off her family completely when she went away to college which confused me a little. She mentions multiple times how her siblings were her best friends but then she stops talking to them when she moves away. She also kind of paints her mom to be this horrible person she had to get away from, but from what we’re shown, her mom seems like she tried her best with the hand she was dealt?
I wanted to know what she learned from her experiences and how she grew to love and accept herself because she’s clearly in a much better place now mentally. But all we get are vignettes from various points in her life that don’t really form a cohesive narrative.
That being said, I felt like there was something lacking in this memoir. Her family plays a huge part in her life, both good and bad, but she glossed over significant portions of her life that I would have liked to read about. My biggest disappointment with this book was how little her father is actually mentioned. She doesn’t go into how the reason for her dad’s incarceration impacted her, even though it was shocking and frankly quite relevant to Ashley’s past. Also, it seemed like she cut off her family completely when she went away to college which confused me a little. She mentions multiple times how her siblings were her best friends but then she stops talking to them when she moves away. She also kind of paints her mom to be this horrible person she had to get away from, but from what we’re shown, her mom seems like she tried her best with the hand she was dealt?
I wanted to know what she learned from her experiences and how she grew to love and accept herself because she’s clearly in a much better place now mentally. But all we get are vignettes from various points in her life that don’t really form a cohesive narrative.