Description:
Mother and daughters--the classic duo--long the target of stand-up comedians and sitcoms. The authors of Mothers Who Drive Their Daughters Crazy, a husband and wife team (she's the psychotherapist; he's the journalist), approach this often difficult dynamic with a sense of drama and the gift of clarity. They created 10 personality categories from clients' stories--The Narcissist, The Yenta, The Smother Mother, The Ostrich, to name a few. "If you can spot your mother in one of these," the Cohens write, "you might be able to gain some objectivity, start seeing the patterns, and watch with a calmer eye." First comes the recognition that an entrenched pattern between mother and daughter has roots in the mother's childhood. But the book's focus is on the present, not the past. It's written adult daughters suffering from an unhealthy bond as they themselves seek to be healthy mothers to their daughters. The books' credo is a harsh truth that soothes--"Adult children who keep trying to 'make it' with inadequate, unloved, and unloving parents are like people who go to a vegetarian restaurant and demand roast beef. The parents on whom they make demands for enlightened parenting never got it from their own parents. They do not have it in stock and they are not able to provide it for their children." If you feel the victim of your mother's love or if you always blame yourself for never living up to Mother's wishes, then Mothers Who Drive Their Daughters Crazywill help you to grow up--and out--of unproductive, painful cycles.
| 
