A review by madelinedalton
Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Unfortunately, I had a really hard time focusing when reading this book. I felt like I was missing out on an objectively great memoir, and I wanted so badly to like it. I'm not sure where this personal disconnect came from. 

I also felt as though the central theme of the memoir, hinted by the title, was really lacking in exploration. When Ashley first found out about why her father was imprisoned, she was enraged. And then, a few chapters later, she was all grown up and had a positive experience visiting him in prison for the first time in many years. What happened in between those two emotional states? How did she get there? It just felt a bit jarring to me. I was expecting the memoir to cover her relationship with her father most, but instead, it primarily focused on her relationships with her mother and grandmother. That's all great--there was some interesting stuff in there--but it surprised me given the way she initially set up the book.
 
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