Mixed Feelings

Mixed Feelings is an interesting look inside the lives, minds, and hearts of siblings. Explored in this book are the issues that affect just about all siblings:parental favoritism, birth order, competitiveness, scapegoats, loyalty, and gender. While the book is hardly scientific in nature, it more than makes up for it in readability and common sense. The author uses excerpts from her long interviews with many siblings to identify what I found most interesting, that siblings often have very different experiences of growing up in the exact same situation. The author emphasizes the important point that in dealing with past hurts reality is irrelavent, perception is everything.Two parts of this book that I felt were a little thin: 1.the author's suggestions for reinstating communication with alienated siblings. It would have been nice to see this get a little more attentions, especially since that is likely to be the goal of many readers. 2.Siblings in bad situations. While the author does deal with the 'hotbutton' issues of our time (alcholism, molestation, and incest) the treatment is somewhat short and only addresses those issues. It fails to deal with the more pervasive types of abuse and neglect that many siblings suffer under their parents.Overall, this is a good beginning treatment to this subject. While not a how-to manual for repairing sibling relationships, it does give insight into the things that affect a siblings' expereince of life that will help many readers better understand themselves and their own siblings.