A review by smalltownbookmom
Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller

4.0

A heartbreaking memoir about a dysfunctional childhood filled with abuse and the complicated family relationships of a woman lacking a connection to her Mother and her Navajo roots. Danielle Geller gets a call that her mother has had a heart attack and is not going to recover. This sets off a journey to get to know the mother that was largely absent from the majority of her life using the diaries and photographs she left behind. I really enjoyed how the author uses her archival background to examine the physical objects of her mother's past in order to discover more about her family history. Raised by her paternal grandmother and shuttled around between various family members, including her abusive father, Danielle and her younger sister had a very traumatic childhood. This book is full of triggers and should be read with care. Danielle recounts her own and her family's history of mental illness and depression. Her father and sister were in and out of jail and suffered from alcohol and substance abuse. It took her mother's death for Danielle to reconnect with her maternal family and the reunion was a complicated one. Danielle ended up marrying a Canadian man and lives in British Columbia. Recommended for fans of dysfunctional family stories in the style of Jesse Thistle or Toni Jensen.

TW: sexual, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual molestation of a minor child