Thirty Days With my Father

[kennyc]

this looks very interesting! Anyone read it? Five Stars on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Days-My.../dp/B009ZX45I6

When Christal Presley's father was eighteen, he was drafted to Vietnam. Like many men of that era who returned home with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), he was never the same. Christal's father spent much of her childhood locked in his room, gravitating between the deepest depression and unspeakable rage, unable to participate in holidays or birthdays. At a very young age, Christal learned to walk on eggshells, doing anything and everything not to provoke him, but this dance caused her to become a profoundly disturbed little girl. She acted out at school, engaged in self-mutilation, and couldn't make friends. At the age of eighteen, Christal left home and didn't look back. She barely spoke to her father for the next thirteen years.

To any outsider, Christal appeared to be doing well: she earned a BA and a master's, got married, and traveled to India. But despite all these accomplishments, Christal still hadn't faced her biggest challenge—her relationship with her father. In 2009, something changed. Christal decided it was time to begin the healing process, and she extended an olive branch. She came up with what she called "The Thirty Day Project," a month's worth of conversations during which she would finally ask her father difficult questions about Vietnam. Thirty Days with My Father is a gritty yet heartwarming story of those thirty days of a daughter and father reconnecting in a way that will inspire us all to seek the truth, even from life's most difficult relationships. This beautifully realized memoir shares how one woman and her father discovered profound lessons about their own strength and will to survive, shedding an inspiring light on generational PTSD.

Story here on CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/04/us...tsd/index.html
and
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/08/us...ome/index.html

[jgaiser]

Ok.. First off Kenny, your link goes to Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find"

Correct link:

http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Days-My.../dp/B009ZX45I6

Second. I'm a Vietnam Veteran. I'm going to try to read this and try to comment later. I too dealt with what is now called PTSD. Not at this level, but still the discussion hits a few nerves. Later...

[kennyc]

What? eeek? How'd that happen? Will fix

and Thanks Jerry, hope I didn't (and this doesn't) touch raw nerves!

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by kennyc

What? eeek? How'd that happen? Will fix

and Thanks Jerry, hope I didn't (and this doesn't) touch raw nerves!

No raw nerves, really... It's just something I don't talk about much. I'll read the book and comment later.

[HappyMartin]

Looks interesting. I would like to hear what you think of it jgaiser. The type of book I usually avoid but something in the description attracts me to this one.

[kennyc]

To me the interesting aspect is the 'second hand' PTSD angle. Well, and the estranged father aspect as that was true in my life as well.