Name: Family History
ISBN: 9781400032112

Dani Shapiro

Enjoying her loving family and her work as an art restorer, Rachel Jensen finds her world unraveling after a terrible accident that leads to Rachel's discovery that her teenage daughter is threatening to destroy them all. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

A Novel

Family History

Janet Doré

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this book...I'm glad I read it, although it left me wanting. Shapiro took me back to the time in my life when my ex-husband and I were having similar issues with our son. He was difficult from birth and challenged us more than "normal" children nearly every day of his childhood. I descended to a hellish place when he hit 5th grade...and, didn't reemerge until he was 17. My husband was unable to handle things - and no one else could fully relate - so I was virtually on my own. While, overall, Shapiro's writing and character development was very good, I opted for 3 stars because I felt that, for the most part, the emotions floated on the surface. Rachel's situation was worse than mine and I never felt the raw and searing pain that went far beyond my concern for my younger child. It was a pain that ripped me shreds, leaving me broken, and required me to completely rebuild myself. If you're one of the fortunate ones, like me, you emerge a much stronger, unwaveringly authentic, and much wiser person. In fact, I now consider my son my biggest teacher in this lifetime and am strangely thankful for the journey he took us on. I guess I just wanted to connect with Rachel in this way, yet she never let me all the way in...or, she just never went through what I did.

Family History A Novel

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