Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley C. 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.
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Through poverty, adolescence, and a fraught relationship with her mother, Ashley C. 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.
Getting super angry at adults, people, patriarchy, racism and stupidity of mankind for all the length of the book? Yes! Not being able to stop reading because you need it to end so that you can stop being super angry at all of the above mentioned? Yes! Being really freaked out that someone in a whole other country with a whole different background has had most of the exact same experiences, feelings and thoughts as you did during your childhood and teenage years? Yes! Being super gratified that this person did also happen to write about those experiences in a way that you would never dream of expressing? Yes! Zsa Zsa rated it: 5.0 from 5.0
I was eagerly anticipating this and it did not disappoint. Ford writes about her family with the same capacious eye as Jeanette Walls, Heather Sellers, Kiese Laymon and Saeed Jones. Now I’m eagerly awaiting her next book. Stephanie rated it: 5.0 from 5.0
Everything I want to say about this memoir probably sounds cliche, but at the same time is absolutely true. It’s touching, authentic, painful, and bittersweet. There are so many stories out there in the world, and I’m so glad Ashley Ford shared hers with us. Mandi | No Apathy Allowed rated it: 5.0 from 5.0
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