Father Melancholy's Daughter

Rating:
Summary: Deep & Sophisticated Book
Review: "Father Melancholy's Daughter" is not for everyone, but it is rewarding and it is thought provoking. It is also well-written and a believeable book. A little of the storyline: a young woman, Ruth, marries an older Episcopalian minister, who has significant bouts of depression. The two have a precocious daughter, Margaret. After a visit from a college friend (Madelyn Farley), Ruth leaves her family for a "vacation", but never returns. How do you cope without a wife/mother (at age 6!)? Why did Ruth (wife/mother) leave, and what does life mean now without her. The religious background is accurate and engrossing. The father is a wonderful minister. We should all be so lucky to have a caring and compassionate religious figure in our lives. However, Margaret has to be an old soul to be so mature and to handle her life (and the church groupies) with such grace. Still, I found Margaret's character refreshing for her dignity, humor, and insight into her religious world. The questions are will Margaret find true love? Will she repeat history like her mother? You will need to read the book to find out.

Rating:
Summary: An unorganized and boring book M.S. period 1
Review: A wonderful narrative story, told from the point of view of Margaret, who is the precocious and intellectual daughter of an Episcopalian minister. The story is intertwined with issues of a deeper spiritual nature, but there's nothing "preachy" about it -- just the true soul-searching of a young woman sifting through the stories of her past and the beliefs she was raised with to find her own place in the world.

This story hinges on the scene where young Margaret childishly tries to "punish" her mother for having to share her mother's affections with her mother's eccentric artist friend who blows into town and changes all their lives. Tragically, it is the last time Margaret sees her mother. It may sound melancholy at first, but there is much more to this story than the tragedy of a girl who loses her mother in childhood.

As all good stories often do, it ends with some surprises, and leaves just the right amount of burning questions unanswered. Look for the sequel, and find Margaret grown up and still struggling with the echoes of her past in "Evensong."

Rating:
Summary: Godwin at Her Best
Review: Having read all of Gail Godwin's novels, I would rank this and Evensong as her best effort in capturing the essence of a half dozen characters - characters we come to care about and identify with, flawed though they may be. The novel is a celebration of brokenness and of nurture within the community of Christian believers in Godwin's ficticious town. Unlike one's experience with formula fiction (and Christian formula fiction in particular) the reader is surprised by who ends up wearing the white hats at book's end. Godwin's message (thesis) is inclusive and moving in its reality: we are all fellow strugglers in a world most often ruled by random events.

Rating:
Summary: Deep & Sophisticated Book
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It reads more like poetry than narrative, and the emotions as well as the world around the main character's life are beautifully penned. As a result, it was a bit slow in parts, but that was appealing because of the beautiful way she writes. Sometimes this book is much more about the thoughts, feelings, and observations during a 16 year period of a strikingly mature young woman than it is a story in which a lot of events actually happen. Also, you will get a lot more out of the book if you are familiar with literature and Christian religious history/terminology. A lot of that went over my head, but I caught some of it, and what I didn't catch I could still see meaning in. By the same token, pastors and others who love religious philosophy will probably immensely enjoy this book. I already bought the sequel, Morningsong, and am looking forward to having time to read it. (I already read the first few pages right after finishing this one, just to see if she married between the 1st and the 2nd, and if so, to who!)

Rating:
Summary: A great story with some thought-provoking ideas
Review: I read this book with a highlighter in one hand. There are so many thought-provoking places in this beautiful and well-written story. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, "Evensong."

Here are two great quotes:

"Not until we accept our shortcomings can we do God's will in the world. Each person has a specific shortcoming to accept and endure and try to work on. It's that person's task, it is my task. And however painful or shameful or just plain aggravating it is to me, or to you, that very shortcoming is a part of my destiny; it may even be inseparable from why I will have been valuable to the human community. Because, by bearing it, learning it from the roots up, letting it speak its message to me, offering it in my mind and my body in which to work itself out, I may be doing my part to heal what is split in the world."

"And now it is our turn to follow Him by seeking to know our own redemptive roles, seeking to find out what is my part, what is your part, your unique part, in the human drama we find ourselves enmeshed in. Don't let yourself be unduly put down by the jeers, but don't be taken in unduly by the laurels and waving of palm branches, either. Just ride your little donkey as best you can, focus daily on those places in your existence where intensity blazes up...and let God do the rest."

Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: I thought this book was an excellent study of a father-daughter-mother relationship. I too was exasperated with Margaret's seeming to cross over to the "enemy's" camp, but the complexity of human behavior is reflected in this story. People do seemingly irrational things at times, but there are reasons for their behavior. This story reads quickly and is very easy to get involved in. The characters are believable. I enjoyed the insight into the daily lives of pastors and their families. I also recommend Evensong by Gail Godwin which is a sequel to Father Melancholy. However my favorite book by Gail Godwin continues to be The Good Husband.

Rating:
Summary: A book that will break your heart
Review: This book made me feel like Gail Godwin had somehow been watching me--and many of the people I know and love best--all my life. I too am a "PK"--and like Margaret, born in the 1960's to an Episcopal priest and his wife. She has captured so perfectly the mis en scene of rectory life that it's spooky. It helped me to remember that though to many people he's "Father," to me he is "Daddy"--less conflicted and melancholy than Walter, certainly--but his struggles with the "grace of daily obligation" are the same. And I bawled like a baby through the whole second half. It's a book that will remind any daughter how much she loves and owes to the first man in her life.

Rating:
Summary: Father Melancholy's Daughter
Review: Together with its sequeal, Evensong, this was one of my favorite reads. It had a depth and realism rarely found in fiction with a religious theme. The interplay between spiritual and psychological was fascinating to me.

Rating:
Summary: Father Melancholy's Daughter left me melancholy, too.
Review: While I enjoyed Father Melancholy's Daughter, I found the story left its emotional mark on me. I often find myself drawn into books, but this one was surprisingly so. I actually found myself sad at the things Margaret had to experience, including those she seemed to choose for herself.

As an evangelical Christian, I found the spiritual dimension to be particularly deep, despite my lack of understanding of the Episcopal church. I especially resonated with the woman who discovered while doing laundry with monks that *she* is not responsible for finishing the task, only for performing her part of it.

I think this book is definitely worth reading, but it's not light summer fare. Be prepared to grieve with Margaret.