(Disclaimer: Thanks to Trish Collins of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book, and to the author for providing a signed copy!)
Somebody Else’s Daughter
Elizabeth Brundage
Viking, 2008 (Hardcover) (ISBN 0670019003 / 9780670019007)
Fiction, 352 pages
First Sentence: We left San Francisco that morning even though your mother was sick. (Read an excerpt from the book’s prologue.)
Somebody Else’s Daughter is filled with doppelgangers. Pairs of characters mirror each other forcing each one to confront the darker side of his or her psyche and question their own identity. Nate and Joe (Willa’s biological and adoptive fathers) both fall in love with Claire, a feminist artist who recently returned to the area. Pioneer’s headmaster Jack Heath and Joe are both fathers of teenage girls, each with his own secrets to keep. Willa and Petra (Pearl) are both orphaned girls, yet one has been given a caring home and the other turns to prostitution.
The characters become more entwined as first scandal and then tragedy strikes. As the story draws to its gripping conclusion, each character must make a decision that defines who they are. Somebody Else’s Daughter is a suspenseful tale and a tightly woven psychological drama that examines, as Joe Golding observes, how “in a matter of seconds, based on the fickle inclinations of fate, your life could change forever.”
Comments: I wish I hadn’t been reading this book in the midst of my recent packing-and-moving adventure; I would have liked to be able to read it in a few sessions rather than in small chunks over several weeks. Somebody Else’s Daughter is an engrossing book, but there are quite a few characters and subplots, and having to take so many breaks while reading it threw off my momentum and sometimes made it difficult to re-orient myself to the story. I think if you have the time, this would be a pretty fast read.
Elizabeth Brundage’s second novel covers a relatively short chronology – less than a year – but a lot of psychological and relationship territory in this story of the community around a small prep school in the Berkshires. She introduces a lot of characters, and it takes a while to see how their stories will intersect, but have faith that eventually they will.
At first glance, the “somebody else’s daughter” of the title seems to be Willa Golding, who came to her parents, Joe and Candace, via a private adoption as a baby. Her birth parents were drug addicts, and her natural mother died of AIDS on the day of the adoption. Willa’s biological father, Nate Gallagher, has cleaned up and become a writer and teacher; when a position at the Pioneer School, which she attends, opens up, he takes it as an opportunity to get to know the girl without revealing their relationship.
However, “somebody else’s daughter” could be Candace, Willa’s adoptive mother, who was raised in foster homes herself. It could be Maggie Heath, who has always felt out of place with her husband Jack’s family, and who seems to share an eating disorder with her own daughter Ada. It could be Claire Squire, feminist artist and single mom, recently returned from Los Angeles and living in her father’s old house after his death. It could be Petra – also called Pearl (although I think I missed the point in the book where her name changed) – a young, drug-addicted prostitute who centralizes several of the novel’s story arcs. I like the fact that the title could refer to any or all of the characters.
I think Brundage balances character and plot development pretty well overall in this novel, and nearly every element she introduces does end up connecting to the larger story at some point. As a reader, I usually do have confidence that authors will tie things together eventually, and I appreciate having that rewarded. I thought that nearly all of the major characters had complexity and depth, and given the number of characters and storylines that Brundage is juggling here, that appeals to me.
There were some elements of the writing that distracted me from the story at times – minor things that seem like they could have been fixed with more (careful? thoughtful? anal-retentive?) editing – but they weren’t a serious impediment to my reading, since there was plenty of story to keep me interested. Brundage does use the “f-word” quite a bit, but in a character-appropriate manner. In the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that she has included some disturbing scenes that may seem gratuitous at first, but really are relevant to the story, including several graphic descriptions of pornography and a scene at a dogfight (which I found more unsettling than the porn).
Book Club Discussion Guide questions for Somebody Else’s Daughter
This was my first time reading any of Elizabeth Brundage’s fiction, but I think I will be checking out her first novel, The Doctor’s Wife. She has a way with character and story, and I thank TLC Book Tours for introducing me to her!
Rating: 3.75/5
This review is cross-posted at Books on the Brain.
** Buy Somebody Else’s Daughter online at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, IndieBound.org, or BooksAMillion.com
** Other stops on the TLC Book Tour for Somebody Else’s Daugher:
Monday, November 3rd: It’s All Fun & Games
Wednesday, November 5th: S. Krishna’s Books
Friday, November 7th: Mabel’s House
Wednesday, November 12th: Devourer of Books
Thursday, November 13th: All Thumbs Reviews
Friday, November 14th: Welcome to My Brain
Monday, November 17th: 1 More Chapter
Wednesday, November 19th: My New Reality
Friday, November 21st: Bloggin’ ‘Bout Books
Tuesday, November 25th: The Friendly Book Nook
Tuesday, December 2nd: Bookroom Reviews
Thursday, December 4th: Pieces of Me
I really really liked this book. i thought the title referred to the fact that everyone is someone else’s daughter. 🙂
Oh and I HATED the tooth scene!!! AAAAGH! (I also hated the porn scenes, but feel they were necessary to the book)
Amy – You have a point about the title. And about the tooth scene – also quite disturbing, but the dogfight bothered me more.
thanks for the review; I’m always looking for new authors to read; will check out both of these books by Elizabeth Brundage
betty
Betty – I haven’t read The Doctor’s Wife yet, so I can’t say much about that one.