What business is it of theirs what "Ginny" the mother did before the daughters were around? Delinsky is very repetitive here, constantly reminding the reader that mother "Ginny" was emotionally unavailable, (cry me a river) yet the St. Clair sisters never wanted for material goods and grew up quite wealthy. We are supposed to feel sorry for these spoiled kids?
There are some very poignant chapters, here, though, as Delinsky writes about Ginny's (the 70-year-old mothers) death. There's very little about the daughters mourning their mother's death, though. How typical of these 3 Ingrates. Delinsky does add variety to her writing by switching from 1st and 3rd person in some of the chapters.
There's also a couple of "inter-chapters" about some of the old townsfolk sitting on their porch reminiscing about the way the small town in Maine, where the three daughters reunite.....used to be. These are interspersed with the story chapters. These "interchapters" don't seem to have any connection to the story at hand, though. I was confused about who these old townspeople were and how they were related to the daughters and their dying mother.
I'm taking one star off for this confusion, and one star off for the insufferable grown children who have a major chip on their shoulders.
Many readers who are familiar with Delinsky know that her characters have "mother" problems and the charcters always call their mothers by the mother's first name. But, usually there is some major reason or gripe for the mother-daughter conflict in a Barbara Delinsky novel.
I just don't see it, here, in this novel.
I just don't see what the conflict was, here, though. The daughters all grew up to be very accomplished and well-off. So what was all the complaining and squabbling about?
A Barbara Delinsky classic, first published in 1994, For My Daughters is a poignant and unforgettable story of the enduring power of love and the tenacious strength of family from the acclaimed New York Times bestselling author.
Estranged sisters Caroline, Annette, and Leah St. Clair have spent their lives trying to escape the legacy of their wealthy, aloof, social-climbing mother, Virginia?each losing a certain part of herself in the process. Now, on the eve of her seventieth birthday, Virginia has asked them all to help her get settled into her magnificent new estate on the rocky coast of Maine, a request each sister reluctantly agrees to, thinking it may be her mother's last.
But it is Virginia who has something to give to the daughters she neglected in childhood. For amid the glories of a New England summer, three sisters will finally learn the answers to the questions that have troubled them for years . . . and new truths that will stay with them forever.