This month I chose Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley Ford. Memoirs are not a genre I gravitate toward very often but every once in a while hear lots of chatter about a particular memoir and decide to give it a read. That was the case with this one too.

It is hard to review a memoir because it is someone’s true experience that not one other person has lived. So I am sharing this excerpt for The School Library Journal….

“This memoir opens with Ford, who is Black, learning that her father was being released after more than 20 years in prison. From there the time line reverts to Ford's earliest memory, at four years old, and proceeds chronologically. Her childhood was dominated by a contentious relationship with a mother who, at her best, is loving and supportive and, at her worst, loud, angry, and abusive. Ford learned that a cousin was sexually assaulted by another family member and later became the victim of rape herself. Her inner turmoil only grows when she finds out that her father raped two women. In high school, Ford met Brett, her first boyfriend, with whom she experienced love and a consensual, healthy relationship. She began to consider college a real possibility and made it to Ball State. There she finally experienced a stable living situation, until her relationship with Brett imploded in an unexpected fashion. In spite of this, she perseveres. Ford writes her story in a genuine and nonjudgmental way. It would be easy to blame those in her life who wronged her, yet she presents every person as a well-rounded individual with positive attributes in addition to their flaws. The story is ultimately positive-a story of resiliency, and reconciliation.”

I will add that some memoirs that I have read are about one specific (and many times horrific) event in a person’s life. Those are tough for me because we are stuck on the one event. I liked that this book moved along and though some truly awful things did happen to Ford, we were able to move on as we read and were not stuck dwelling on a terrible situation the entire book.

So…have you read it? What are your thoughts? Share below!

To spread the love of books, I will gift TWO copies of next month’s book. Just comment here and/or on @sarahtakesabreather on Instagram so that I know you are following and interested! I’ll randomly choose winners during the first few days of each month.

Check out our January discussion of The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot HERE!

And our February discussion of The Authenticity Project HERE!

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