isbn-13: 9781250305978
Audible
This is not a book I would normally read, but it was assigned reading in a book club I joined in Facebook, so I thought I’d give it a try. I actually got a lot out of reading about the coming of age of a young African-American girl. It certainly gave me insight into points of view and experiences I had not come across before.
Ostensibly the “somebody” of the title is Ford’s father who has been in jail for most of her childhood, but the book really highlights Ford’s troubled relationship with her mother.
I was reminded of Educated by Tara Westover in many way as I was reading this, but Ford’s experiences and troubles are tame compared to Westover’s. This might be unfair, but Ford comes across as a little immature - I wonder if her perspective would change if she herself becomes a mother.
Nevertheless, a worthwhile read.
Publisher’s Description: ““Sure to be one of the best memoirs of 2021.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review “So clear, sharp, and smooth that the reader sees, in vivid focus, Ford’s complicated childhood, brilliant mind, and golden heart. Ford is a writer for the ages, and Somebody’s Daughter will be a book of the year.” —Glennon Doyle, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Untamed “Ford’s wrenchingly brilliant memoir is truly a classic in the making. The writing is so richly observed and so suffused with love and yearning that I kept forgetting to breathe while reading it.” —John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author One of the most prominent voices of her generation debuts with an extraordinarily powerful memoir: the story of a childhood defined by the looming absence of her incarcerated father. Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley Ford wishes she could turn to her father for hope and encouragement. There are just a few problems: he’s in prison, and she doesn’t know what he did to end up there. She doesn’t know how to deal with the incessant worries that keep her up at night, or how to handle the changes in her body that draw unwanted attention from men. In her search for unconditional love, Ashley begins dating a boy her mother hates. When the relationship turns sour, he assaults her. Still reeling from the rape, which she keeps secret from her family, Ashley desperately searches for meaning in the chaos. Then, her grandmother reveals the truth about her father’s incarceration . . . and Ashley’s entire world is turned upside down. Somebody’s Daughter steps into the world of growing up a poor, Black girl in Indiana with a family fragmented by incarceration, exploring how isolating and complex such a childhood can be. As Ashley battles her body and her environment, she embarks on a powerful journey to find the threads between who she is and what she was born into, and the complicated familial love that often binds them.”