Father's Trouble$

Rating:
Summary: better than golf
Review: After starting the book, I had to continue until I finished. This took two days. The style of writing kept my interest and enticed me to want more, to read the next chapter, to see the story, and feel the emotion. Knowing that my father and grandfather had started businesses,had changed businesses, had been friends of bankers, and had their troubles (not nearly to the extent as the book), all connected me with the story.
My trouble was that I started reading on a Friday evening and kept reading all day Saturday and forgot about and missed my regular Saturday golf game.
As you can tell from my comments, I am not a writer, just a reader and if you are a reader don't miss "Father's Troubles".

Rating:
Summary: Bestseller / Movie potential
Review: Father's Troubles remains with me weeks after having read it and is becoming a treasured book memory. Like others, once started, I couldn't stop reading. The pre-Depression rise and fall of the author's financier grandfather and his family is a modern tragedy extending to the present generation, largely because of the remarkable code of silence adopted by his children. The author deftly crafts "then and now" and her research experience, which takes her to many West Virginia archives including those of the old Moundsville Penetentiary. Her reward is the appreciation she gains for her family's women underlined by the epiphany she experiences re her relationship with her mother. Could current players (Enron, etc.) be depicted arousing such pathos?!

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: Once I began the book, it reached out and held me. The words flowed so smoothly and the plot, which occurs both in the early part of the 20th century and the present, was tightly woven and exciting. The story is filled with ambition, heartache and history. I was most impressed by the emotional richness surrounding the characters. This depth could only come from an author who has both a great storytelling skill, and courage to expose her inner most being to all who read her book. I thought it was wonderful and I hope it won't be her last attempt.