]]>
I really, REALLY wanted to like this. I thought the plot was very promising, though I felt like story telling and dialogue was somewhat lacking. I thought the first half of the book slowly trudged along and I had a hard time getting through it until the second half, which really picked up and then I had a hard time putting it down... until the point where our hero was tortured and raped. It left me feeling sick to my stomach at how graphic the torture was, and it lasted for a very long time - way longer than was necessary. I haven't ready many fantasy books, mostly just Tolkien, and don't know if this is the norm for this genre but I wasn't expecting masochism like this and if I would have known about it I would not have read the book. It totally ruined it for me. We can know that bad things happen and are caused by bad people, but for crying out loud he has written of pedophelia, s&m, and rape all over this book. It would be totally unnecessary if he had the writing skills to be able to portray evil without having to constantly throw this in the pages every time D'hara or Darken Rhal comes up. He even gave Darken Rhal's father the name Panis - come on now!!! ]]>
My husband read this book over the summer and it transformed his parenting! He has always been a wonderful father, but this has really helped open his eyes to how vital he is to our daughter's emotional - and physical - well-being and health. He has applied what he's learned with our preteen daughter and all I can think is that I wish my father was able to parent me like this, it would have prevented a lot of pain, heartbreak and tangles of sin. I would have felt treasured and loved. My father does love me, but he loves me the best he knows how - and this book spells it out for fathers and is specific in what they need to do. I think that part of what makes this book so great for fathers is that it isn't full of fluff and emotion, it is full of facts and statistics appealing to man's logic and practical nature, speaking their language. This is the best parenting book that either of us have read so far and we will be reading her Boys Should be Boys book as well. ]]>
I agree with someone else who said that they didn't feel like they were the author's target audience. I feel like this may have been geared towards single moms while I am married, I don't feminize them (though I want them to be able to communicate with others, especially women since they will marry one) and encourage my boys to be "boys": to wrestle, play, run around, do loud boy things with their gun noises and I am in to way overprotective. While there is some insight in here, this is more or less one man's opinion and feelings, how he felt growing up, what he thinks boys need. It was a very quick read, and I did laugh out load at a few of his descriptions (they reminded me so much of my younger son - you have to read the Tarzan story) but I was expecting and hoping for a more in-depth study on how boys should be raised and their characters shaped. It isn't a bad book, it just felt more like an outline from one man's experiences and opinions than a "how-to". There are definitely better books out there for raising boys. ]]>
]]>
Melissa
read and liked
Kim's
review of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys:
"For a woman, makes you wonder how the normal men you know ever survived their teen years. I am hoping it's overblown because if it's not, it's way too depressing. Lots of case studies and then didn't feel like that much in terms of advice for parents...more "
"For a woman, makes you wonder how the normal men you know ever survived their teen years. I am hoping it's overblown because if it's not, it's way too depressing. Lots of case studies and then didn't feel like that much in terms of advice for parents...more "
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>
bookshelves: to-read
]]>
]]>
bookshelves: currently-reading
]]>