
My Father's Secret War
A Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Joyce Bean
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By:
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Lucinda Franks
About this listen
My Father's Secret War is an intimate account of Franks coming to know her own father after years of estrangement. Looking back at letters he had written her mother in the early days of WWII, Franks glimpses a loving man full of warmth. But after the grimmest assignments of the war, his tone shifts, settling into an all-too-familiar distance. Franks learns about him, beyond the alcoholism and adultery, and comes to know the man he once was.
Her story is haunting, and beautifully told, even as the tragedy becomes clear: Franks finally comes to know her father, but only as he is slipping further into his illness. My Father's Secret War is a triumph of love over secrets, and a tribute to the power of family.
©2007 Lucinda Franks (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.Critic reviews
"A moving and rewarding novel...quirky, strong, well-realized characters." (Library Journal)
"Sensitive, affecting...Franks earnestly and perceptively confronts real emotional situations." (Publishers Weekly)
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Is there anything you would change about this book?
I found the first 3/4 of this story to be engaging, even compelling, in some parts. Franks did deep into the family relationships that encircle her father. She remembers her intense love for him and his sweet protection and teaching of her as a little girl. But family life later disintegrates and her father becomes dependent on her. Her love, rage and disappointment tangle them up and this story is the gradual unknotting of their relationship.Franks is driven to know about her father's war time efforts. She uses her investigative reporting skills to uncover his story, initially against his will. This eventually draws them together. For me, the story finishes before the book does. The near final chapters tell of her continued search for details to get the full truth of his covert experiences. I was happy ending it with the details he shared and the meaning she made of them. I lost interest in the final verification of the same. It left me thinking: What is more important - The "real" truth or the meaning we make of our own truths?
Too much of an interesting thing
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A truly splendid book.
A wonderful tale of finding a parent and yourself
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A Sad Story
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The story line was compelling to me, from the interest point of a daughter who comes to find out that her father's military career was as quietly intense as hers was celebrated.
At least, that's what I got out of part 1. Sorry to say, that I couldn't bear to listen to the narration any further than that. I found the narrator's attempts at characterization too distracting to continue listening further.
I will most likely buy the hard copy of the book, to continue the story.
5 stars for the story...
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Slow and tedious
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