Show Me 5 Saturday

Currently being hosted by Jenners at Find Your Next Book Here

1. The Book I Read

 The Murderer's Daughters by R S Meyers

2. Words that describe the book...............Childhood trauma

3. Settings where it took place or characters you met:

1. The story is set in New York and covers the years from 1971 - 2002. It follows the lives of two young girls after the loss of their parents from orphanage and foster home to career and marriage.

2. Lulu and Merry witness the murder of their mother by their father, an event that will affect them for the rest of their lives.

3. The father , in prison for over 30 years for his crime, and the dead mother.........both still remain strong influential presences in the girls lives.

4.Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

1. I liked the subject..........when I brought it home I thought it would be a suspense/thriller but its not. Its a pyschological study of the lasting affects of childhood trauma .
2. I liked the way the girls behaviour and attitudes were so much in contrast because they showed how differently people can react and respond to terrible life experiences. Lulu , driven by guilt because she opened the door to her father on the fateful day and carries the load of responsibility for her little sister totally refuses to have any contact with her father at all. Merry, who suffered the most physically from her fathers actions, faithfully visits him in prison year after year.
3. I didn't like (although I can see how this happens) the way that as the years passed the more the girls sanctified their lost mother. The small glimpse one has of her at the beginning of the book doesn't suggest a particularly loving and nurturing person and the more they falsified her image the more bad feelings were directed towards the father. I actually began to feel a bit sorry for him.
4. I didn't like that the writing didn't really achieve what it could have. Children as victims is a huge social issue and the book could have made a powerful and emotional statement but unfortunately I never felt truly connected or involved with the characters.

5 Stars or less for my rating:

I'm giving it 3.5 stars.............good but could have been better.

Darling Daughters Reading Challenge