Name: Daddy
ISBN: 9780440207627

Danielle Steel

The divorce of Oliver and Sarah after eighteen years of marriage becomes the catalyst that compels three generations to explore their lives, loves, goals, and expectations

Daddy

         I read this one to complete a prompt in one of the reading challenges I decided to do for 2024.  I can’t remember which prompt, but this is the one I decided on, largely because Danielle Steel writes books that are easy to get through.  It wasn’t very long, thank god, so it was a pretty quick read. 

            I do realize that this book was written and published in the 1970s when gender roles were viewed quite differently than I am used to.  I need to keep reminding myself of that when I read books that are less contemporary, but it doesn’t help me be less angry at them when I do read them.  The book revolves around Oliver, and how his life goes after his wife, Sarah, decides she want to finish college YEARS after quitting to start her family.  Oliver if painted as the protagonist, the big hero that steps up to be a single dad when his wife abandons her family.  Oliver acted like Sarah’s leaving was a complete shock, despite the fact that Sarah had been telling him for years that she didn’t want the first kid, that she didn’t want the subsequent kids, and that she wasn’t happy with her role and the situation she found herself to be in.  Throughout this entire book, Sarah was very clear about her feelings, but it was expected that she suck it up and deal with it because she’s a woman and women are supposed to want to be wives and mothers.  I was genuinely not surprised when she left, and I even cheered her on a little…she was pretty clear about what her wants and needs were. 

            It should be a shock to nobody that I genuinely hated everything about this book.  Misogyny was alive and well in this book, and the fact that it was written by a career-woman pissed me off, even though it was written in the 1970s.  It does, however, make me super happy that my world is not like that. 

Kristen Claiborn

         I read this one to complete a prompt in one of the reading challenges I decided to do for 2024.  I can’t remember which prompt, but this is the one I decided on, largely because Danielle Steel writes books that are easy to get through.  It wasn’t very long, thank god, so it was a pretty quick read. 

            I do realize that this book was written and published in the 1970s when gender roles were viewed quite differently than I am used to.  I need to keep reminding myself of that when I read books that are less contemporary, but it doesn’t help me be less angry at them when I do read them.  The book revolves around Oliver, and how his life goes after his wife, Sarah, decides she want to finish college YEARS after quitting to start her family.  Oliver if painted as the protagonist, the big hero that steps up to be a single dad when his wife abandons her family.  Oliver acted like Sarah’s leaving was a complete shock, despite the fact that Sarah had been telling him for years that she didn’t want the first kid, that she didn’t want the subsequent kids, and that she wasn’t happy with her role and the situation she found herself to be in.  Throughout this entire book, Sarah was very clear about her feelings, but it was expected that she suck it up and deal with it because she’s a woman and women are supposed to want to be wives and mothers.  I was genuinely not surprised when she left, and I even cheered her on a little…she was pretty clear about what her wants and needs were. 

            It should be a shock to nobody that I genuinely hated everything about this book.  Misogyny was alive and well in this book, and the fact that it was written by a career-woman pissed me off, even though it was written in the 1970s.  It does, however, make me super happy that my world is not like that. 

Daddy

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