I picked up the audio and paperback of Somebody Else's Daughter, by Elizabeth Brundage, at the library, thinking that it had an interesting premise: a high school teacher who gave up his infant daughter for adoption 16 years earlier decides to take a job at her prep school with the hopes of getting to know her. I thought it would be the type of fiction I'm usually drawn to, focusing on families/relationships/emotional crises in an interesting setting – the Berkshires.
I was wrong.
It turns out that Somebody Else's Daughter, which is really a thriller, is one of the more implausible, cliched, and unconvincing books I've read in a while. It's supposed to be about "the conflicted characters and the fractured landscape of the American psyche" – as evidenced by the perversity, violence, secrets, abuse, infidelity, prostitution and drugs taking place barely under the surface of an idyllic Berkshires prep school.
Here's why I didn't like the book: the relationships were unrealistic; there were way too many coincidences; plots were totally implausible; there were loose ends that were never tied up; and worst of all, there was cruelty against dogs, which I cannot stand. I could get into a lot more detail about the implausibility of Somebody Else's Daughter, but I will leave it at that.
I will say this for the book: I had a hard time putting it down. Despite all of its faults, it was suspenseful.
I listened to about half of it on audio and then finished it in paperback. I wasn't crazy about the narrator. She sounded oddly old-fashioned, and while she did a decent New England accent, I didn't like the way she voiced the men in the book. They all sounded roughly the same, and her dialogue was overly dramatic.
I really don't recommend this book. Even if you like mysteries/thrillers, there must be many out there that are much better than Somebody Else's Daughter. Take a pass on this one.
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5 Comments
Sorry this one didn’t work for you.
My book club read this one, and discussed it with the author, a few years ago.
No one liked it. I enjoyed the first part, the idea of the teacher and the daughter (and the birth mother’s story).
I also couldn’t put the book down, wanting to know what would happen to the relationship mentioned above.
There was alot to discuss so it made for a good book discussion.
I feel like I could have written an almost identical review for a book called “When She Flew” by Jennie Shortridge, which was our most recent book club pick. The plot sounded so promising and it was something of a page turner, but the contrived dialogue, loose ends and unsatisfying ending killed me.
I’m sorry to hear that this book let you down. I’ll be sure to avoid it. Thanks for the warning.
I loved the book – it’s hard to believe you all felt this way, in my mind it was one of the best written books I’ve ever read, with the most interesting characters.