Motherless Daughters : The Legacy of Loss

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC - Sensitive - Immensely Helpful!!!
Review: This book helped me in ways I cannot explain. I felt very ALONE and lost -- it showed me that all those feelings were normal, expected, and best of all, temporary. Don't let other people, your employer, society in general make you feel less than whole because you're "not over it yet" -- it is a long process -- it takes more than 3 days, a week, a month, 6 months, a year -- and that is perfectly ok. This book is a true GIFT for a grieving daughter.

Rating:
Summary: A Gift from Hope to all motherless women
Review: Kudos to Hope, indeed. Here's one woman who has fulfilled the meaning of her name by giving all us motherless women a voice and a hope for our own well-being.
I have been through a joyful and tearful journey in her book. O, the joy of hearing that all these other women out there have felt and experienced my pain. O, the tears that flowed when I read about myself, my sister and my father.
Every word, every sentence in this book has meaning for me. Finally, after 19 years without my mother (I was 10 when she died of a brain hemorrage), I am able to name the elements of my personality that I have struggled with. And by naming them, I can overcome them. This book has inspired me to find out more about my mother, to find out more about myself. And if self-knowledge isn't a gift, then I don't know what is...
I also do not agree with other reviewers who say that this book makes the motherless daughter a victim; instead, it gives us all power to deal with ourselves and to become stronger, more knowledgeable women.
Read it when you are ready and it will surely enrich your life.

Rating:
Summary: soothing
Review: I lost my mother to cancer when I was twelve. A year or so later, amidst a fit of tears, I came upon a copy of this book in my father's room. He had meant to give it to me when I was older, but even as a young teen, I understood everything that Edelman writes about and could relate as well. I call it the "Handbook" because, besides being wonderfully emotional and personal in anecdotes and quotations, Edelman provides many scenarios (e.g., what happens if one if the youngest child, what happens if the father has a hard time, etc, etc). There is bound to be something that ANY motherless daughter will find meaningful. I know that I was able to finally come to the realization that I was not alone in my situation. She does a fine job in presenting the motherless daughter as NOT a victim, but rather as a survivor who can leave some special mark on the world. There are examples of well-known motherless daughters (Madonna, Patricia Heaton, Meg Ryan, and others). We are finally not alone as motherless daughters!
The book is broken down into coherent sections narrating what happens right after the loss through years later when the motherless daughter is a mother herself and still feels the pain (which is, thankfully, "normal!"). There's a helpful index if one wants to locate specific information too-- I used this book as a reference when preparing a presentation on the topic for a class. I keep this book beside my bed, not because I'm so overcome with grief, but just as a "security book"-- reading it when I need some sort of affirmation that what I'm feeling is "okay." I have re-read it many times in the past 7 years. Amazing and beautifully written.