Rating: 
Summary: I see myself
Review: This book was given to me by a friend and prior to starting it, I had uttered a few words to a good friend about myself. Then I read this book and the introduction echoed what I had decribed and I was able to give it a name, The Fatherless Woman Syndrome. I am the product of a divorce and it was uplifting, yet sad to see that this had an impact on my life. My incorrect choices in men, my fears, and my bringing a child into this world alone and my successes. Every factor they decribed I fell into, from the successful woman who can do it alone, to the woman who made sure she ran from every relationship she was in. I saw myself in this book.(I admit I drove myself hard just so I could prove to my father that I was worth his love and that he lost out on a good deal.) This book has given me insight into myself, and I trust, every woman, that had been abandoned, in some way by her father, will learn to understand her plight and work toward healing. I encourage all women to read this book and look inside themselves and discover who they are. Jonneta's book had starting the healing process. Thank you for showing me, why I am me.
Rating: 
Summary: anti-feminist, overstated claptrap......from a sista!
Review: This is another example of what happens when good articles are extended into poor booklength works. The author's mother said the author's father forced her through a glass window once and yet the author blames her mother and all women with a backbone on fatherlessness in Black America. Daniel Moynihan's 1965 report on the Black family has been attacked by African-American thinkers of both genders, yet Barras hardly sees a problem with it. This book does nothing but blame women for being victims. Like all conservative rants, it blames feminists, rather than sexism for the problems that women have. This could have been an exciting, thoughtful book; instead, the author speaks in hyperbole and sees no problem with being ridiculously one-sided. Further, she's a journalist, not an academic or an author. Thus, not only should the book be seen as amateur, but it's written in an allegorical style that I found silly. This book should not be embraced by the African-American community. As a pro-feminist brotha, I can't understand why a sista would created this misogynistic tool to harm Black single mothers and womanists throughout the nation.
Rating:
Summary: anti-feminist, overstated claptrap......from a sista!
Review: This is another example of what happens when good articles are extended into poor booklength works. The author's mother said the author's father forced her through a glass window once and yet the author blames her mother and all women with a backbone on fatherlessness in Black America. Daniel Moynihan's 1965 report on the Black family has been attacked by African-American thinkers of both genders, yet Barras hardly sees a problem with it. This book does nothing but blame women for being victims. Like all conservative rants, it blames feminists, rather than sexism for the problems that women have. This could have been an exciting, thoughtful book; instead, the author speaks in hyperbole and sees no problem with being ridiculously one-sided. Further, she's a journalist, not an academic or an author. Thus, not only should the book be seen as amateur, but it's written in an allegorical style that I found silly. This book should not be embraced by the African-American community. As a pro-feminist brotha, I can't understand why a sista would created this misogynistic tool to harm Black single mothers and womanists throughout the nation.
Rating: 
Summary: Let The Healing Begin!
Review: What happens when a Father is missing from the home? The son grows up without understanding what it takes to be a man and how a man must respect a woman. The daughter grows up void of self-esteem and often without an understanding of how to choose and treat a good black man. Thus you have what we see our young people going through today. An inability to relate to each other in a loving and respectful manner that would foster a strong black family and thus a strong black community. Much praise and respect to Barras for tackling a problem unidentified by most African Americans, male and female. As a 30 year old single black male, I first encountered the problem of Fatherless Woman Syndrome (FWS) 6 years ago. I was just as shocked then as I am now at the number of brothers and sisters who don't recognize and understand FWS until it's too late (if at all). This book needs to be required reading for many of our children who are in high school and college. Mothers and Fathers would also get an understanding of the effect their daughter's relationship with the Father (or lack of) might be having on her self-esteem and general psychological well being. We need to recognize the damaging effects a missing Father has on the Black family and realize that the Black family (and thus the Black race) is indeed endangered. I've sent this book out to a few of my beautiful Black Sisters who I see battling with FWS on a daily basis but unknowingly mask it behind material, educational, and professional achievements.
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