Not My Daughter

This was an amazing book. It's so real life and could definitely be something girls would do!!! I highly recommend this book!

Just finished this book this past week. Barbara Delinsky is one of my favorite authors. It was enjoyable.

I just finished this with tears in my eyes and that doesn't happen very often with a book. I was "hooked" by the end of the first chapter and this is the first book I've read by this author. It won't be the last!

I could not put this books down. It's about 4 generations of women. The Baby boomers daughters becoming grandmothers. The Generation X's daughters are the Net Gen's. This small town in Maine has one industry like an L.L.BEAN and lots of old money. The main character is a Generation X Susan Tate who accidently get's PG at 17 from a one night stand of passion from a man she loves Rick. Susan's parents banish her and refuse to talk with her even after she makes a successful life for herself as an excellent principal of a high school. They have never met their grandaughter Lilly in 17 years. Lilly's father Rick is in and our of her life as a successful reporter a major TV network. He does love his daughter Lilly and her mother Susan. Susan has taught her daughter Lilly that you do not need a man to raise a family. You can do it on your own. Susan Tate and her three friends all have a knitting business on the side coloring wool for the Perry and Cass business (L.L. Bean). The other three women are married. Their daughters ( Net Gen's)decide wouldn't if be fun if we all got PG and we can raise our daughters together. So they make a pack and get PG and do not want the fathers of their babies involved. But everything does not go as planned. Many complications such Susan Tate being labled a bad mother by the school board of judgemental old men who want her fired. Of course, they are not bad fathers if their son's or grandson's are the fathers of these babies. When school board goes after Susan if you remember the lyrics to the baby boomer song Harper Valley PTA you will get the idea.

As parents we have dreams of how we want to raise our children and who they will become, what they will do with their lives and we expend so much energy helping to mold them into responsible adults. But when the reality of our dreams and aspirations collide head on with the reality of what our children decide to do on their own the results from these decisions can be catastrophic and life altering for both parent and child. This is played out when three 17-year old girls who are lifelong friends decide that instead of the amazing future that their parents have planned for them another idea makes more sense - having a baby. The girls decide to get pregnant at the same time and raise their children to be a new generation of friends. While each of them comes from a different home life the intricacies of this has always drawn them closer together to shelter each other and provide encouragement. But once they become pregnant and begin to tell their families the fall out that ensues is nothing that they expected or are prepared to deal with. While the anticipation of school friends and teachers perhaps looking poorly upon them was expected what erupts is not against the girls themselves but their mothers and the sacred institution of motherhood and how these women as mothers failed their children. In particular for Lily whose mother, Susan, is the principal of the high school they all attend is singularly called out in large part not only because Susan is the high school principal. Not only is the backlash at her for setting a poor mother role model to the community but also as an ineffective principal based solely on the fact that she herself was a single mother that had a child at 17. Susan fights for her right to remain as principal but the friends she has always relied upon for moral support are also the mothers of the other girls involved and are struggling with their own inner demons and home issues. While preparing for every possible obstacle that comes up and trying to fight off the nay sayers what Susan never anticipated was that this chaos would cause old ghosts from her experience at 17 to reappear as she thought they were gone if not completely forgotten. Even after Susan worked hard to build a life for Lily and spent so much time on trying to show her what she could have Lily thought she knew exactly what she wanted and that want was a baby of her own. The anger Susan feels at all of her dreams erupting in the blink of an eye fades away as the town erupts with anger and the school board is asking for Susan's resignation. However, as the story unfolds you see how strong women are as not only mother's but as a person in the household and the community because when pushed they will shove back regardless of how much stronger the opponent appears. When it is then discovered that there was yet another girl involved who it turns out was the master mind behind the pact to become pregnant new conflicts with the friends and the girls e

NOT MY DAUGHTER is a riveting story that confronts a subculture of teenage girls and their pact to become pregnant. Barbara Delinsky's tale is set in Zaganack, a small coastal town in Maine that serves as a microcosm of the social, political, economic and cultural landscape of our times. A company town for an upscale retailer, Zaganack is an old township of family ties and deep communal relations, and its values are reflected in that understanding. But this town will be challenged by the age-old question: What makes someone a "good mother?" Susan, Kate, Sunny and Pam have been friends for a long time. As part-time co-workers, they even created PC Wool, a subdivision of the local retailer specializing in dyed wools, designs and patterns. Just as the mothers are close to one another, so are their four daughters, Lily, Mary Kate, Jess and Abby. The girls are all intelligent, popular and outstanding high school seniors whose mothers are anticipating them going forward with their education when they graduate. At a mother-daughter evening out, Lily announces to her mother that she is pregnant. Susan, who became a single parent as a teen, is confounded by the news. She also learns that Lily is not the only one expecting --- Mary Kate and Jess are as well. Susan informs Lily's father, Rick, who has always been part of their lives but upon hearing this news decides to become more involved. When it is discovered that there has been a pact between the girls to become pregnant, the characters of each of the mothers and their relationships with their daughters are brought into question. How could this have happened to their smart and wonderful children? For Susan, the high school principal, Lily's pregnancy has unintended consequences. Susan is faced with defending herself as both mother and principal as she too was an unmarried teenage mother. Her core principles are put to the test as she is criticized for being an unconvincing role model. Some parents and others question if this is history repeating itself. As the town, school and businesses try to figure out the why, where and who surrounding the pregnancy pact, there are increasing calls for Susan's resignation. Will she keep her job? What about the girl's lives, their friendships and their babies? Is marriage something for all of them to consider? Each mother and daughter must evaluate their bond to one another and the new lives growing inside the young women. Barbara Delinsky's latest novel reminds this reviewer just how powerful a story --- even a fictional one --- can be. She has captured through her characters and their difficulties some of the social and cultural fabric of our times. This tale reflects the struggles that teen pregnancy creates for the mother-daughter bond, female and family relationships, and their professional and community lives. Delinsky's characters are like friends you might know, and with her uncanny ability to tell a story, you won't be able to wait to turn the page. W