7 October 2012

Book Review

Title: Letter to My Daughter

Author: George Bishop

Date Published: 2010, Greenacres





Our mother knows everything about us; how we get mad, when we want a thing, when something is wrong. They are always there for us, guiding and protecting us but sometimes we really misunderstand them. In the novel “Letter to my Daughter” you will find the love of a mother to her daughter.

Dear Elizabeth, It’s early morning and I’m sitting here wondering where you are, hoping you’re alright.
Elizabeth, ran away from her home in Baton Rouge just because of a, slap (Liz wants to go to Florida for vacation, alone with her friends without the guidance of a parent. Of course, her parents didn’t agree) on the eve of her 15th birthday. While Laura a waits for Liz’s comeback she grabbed a pen and a paper and tried to recall the past, trying to share “everything I’ve always meant to tell you but never have.”

Our mother had also experienced the teenage times, experiencing the teen problems, problems in school, love and family. Laura experienced all of this, being a 15 year old girl. The story focuses the life of Laura as a 15 year old in the past. She wrote all the things happened to her, very detailed events. Of course, she fell in love, she commit mistakes, she did things she never done before. Laura shares memories of her own troubled adolescence, growing up in a conservative household. Her parents didn’t approves her love for a boy but it cannot stop their true love in spite of the disapproval they still see each other but something happened that leads Laura to be sent to a strict Catholic Boarding School but their love continuous through their letters by the help of a Sister. The personal tragedy brought upon her by the Vietnam War, and, finally, the meaning of the enigmatic tattoo below her right hip. They can’t do anything but to wait. Wait, for the comeback of their dear Elizabeth. The husband of Laura stares at her thinking when will she put down her pen, but the sorrow of a mother ignites, she wants to finish the letter until Liz comebacks.
“Tears, hugs, forgiveness, Welcome home, daughter.”
Different feelings stream down. The feeling of a mother when her daughter comes back from a run away.

Letter to My Daughter is a first novel of immense power; Letter to My Daughter encompasses all the love and hope and fear of being a parent and a child; Letter to My Daughter is written with a keen eye, I am sure I will return to it as a cautionary tale and a parable of forgiveness.”

If you’re a mother and a teenager you totally can rely to this book. A mother cannot be perfect, there are failures from the past but a mother knew what is the feeling being a teenager. Our parents dreamt of being a future parent in their past, thinking that if she had a child she wants the best for her/him, she won’t let her child experience the things that she experienced from her parents. This book has a lot of lessons that would touch your hearts and inspire you.


No comments: