When you pick up a memoir by someone you’ve never heard of and end up finishing it all in one go, you know you’ve found a winner. People who live above rocks and not under them like me may already know Ashley C. Ford from her podcasts, hosting gigs, or writings for outlets such as BuzzFeed, The Guardian, Slate, and The New York Times. In her first book, Somebody’s Daughter, she set out to convey her experience growing up as a poor, Black girl with a father incarcerated for rape. Turns out, she c...

I saw the author give a talk at a work event last year and really enjoyed her. She's charismatic and funny while clearly emotionally intelligent, and its always those types of people who you know have been through some shit. I enjoyed learning about her life in this memoir, along with how she shows the complexities of loving family when they're so flawed and sometimes even abusive. Due to how short the book is, I wish she went more in-depth with some of the events she recalls or the different st...

I found this memoir a courageous exploration of family trauma as well as the pain of growing up as a girl. While Ashley Ford provides an impactful outline of her feelings about her incarcerated father, she portrays with even greater depth and complexity her relationship with her mother, who often hurt and mistreated Ford during her childhood. Ford writes too about the unprompted, vile sexualization and sexual assault she experienced growing up, as well as the kindness of certain teachers and adu...

Somebody’s Daughter is an exceptionally powerful and moving memoir by Ashley Ford. I’ve been a fan of Ford for a number of years when she was a guest on various podcasts such as For Colored Nerds and Longform. In some of those podcast episodes she mentioned about the book she was writing and I was excited about reading it from the get-go. In her memoir, Ford writes about various phases of her life beginning with her childhood and leading up to a momentous event she experienced as an adult. She d...

4.5 very strong stars for this magnificent, heartfelt, coming of age debut memoir. Somebody’s Daughter A Memoir was a difficult, painful and brave undertaking by Ashley C. Ford. She painstakingly and with a lot of emotion succeeded in writing her story. She wrote with raw honesty and brilliant prose. Ashley C. Ford had contemplated and wanted to write her story for as long as she could remember. She was able to masterfully depict all aspects of her very complicated childhood in Somebody’s Daught...

I've known Ashley for a long time and it has been wonderful to watch her career evolve. Her debut memoir is sublime. It is beautifully written, searingly honest, and deeply affecting. There is a real grace with which she writes about the people in her life and those who have harmed her. Her ability to see people for who they are without looking away is powerful. There are passages throughout this memoir that are simply perfect and I do not say that lightly. I found myself holding my breath at ti...

In her powerful and poignant memoir, Ashley shares her memories, feelings, and experiences—from growing up in poverty to experiencing trauma to her complicated relationship with her mother and incarcerated father—with unflinching honesty, courage, and grace. This book grabbed me from the very first pages.

A perfect depiction of growing up in the 80's and 90's.As far back as Ashley Ford can remember, her father has been in prison. He writes her letters and sends her words of affirmation and encouragement. While her father has been doing his bid, her mother delves into a series of relationships and additional children. How will Ashley navigate this life without a father and with a mother reeling from betrayal and heartbreak who is also now charged with being the sole provider of her family?Somebody...

This will be a tough one to review, because it just did not quite work for me, and there are a couple reasons why. For specific reasons, I am choosing not to give this one a star rating.I've admired Ashley C. Ford's writing and social media presence for a while, and I was very excited about this book. I'll start with the good: the writing here is strong, and compelling. Ashley writes unflinchingly about her experiences, and there is an emotional quality to the writing that I found brave. In term...

I’ve been listening to this on audio over the last few weeks, and it’s such a beautifully-written book. So heart breaking and emotional, but also very inspiring.

I spent 7 plus hours painting my kitchen today while listening to Ashley C. Ford's melodious, soothing voice reading her unflinching memoir to me. When it popped up on Overdrive I didn't remember placing it on hold. I'd never heard of Ashley C. Ford. I thought it was fiction. And then she began speaking and I was transported. Ashley invites the reader into her story with a tone so accessible that I often felt that I was sitting with a close friend. She is so present, so honest, that even those

Sure, people climb Mount Everest, and sure, people make rockets and put other people in them and send them to space, and allegedly there are people who somehow eat three healthy and balanced meals a day, but have you ever reviewed a memoir?That's the hardest thing I can fathom.First of all, it's difficult because I tend to always like memoirs, and I have a hard time reviewing books I like simply due to lack of experience.But secondly, and dare I say more importantly, even I think it's too much t...

Let me do my review in five points.1. This is a very well written book. It is clear, Ashley C. Ford can write. Her ability to draw you and show you what was happening in her world was beautifully crafted. 2. If mother-daughter theme is your jam you need to stop what you are doing and read this book NOW! Trust me, imagine a book that thoroughly explores mother daughter relationship- this is it!3. Beautiful cover and intriguing title. 4. I felt it lacked something. It was a bit slow and monotonous...

4.5 starsI received a copy of this as an audiobook, read by Ashley C. Ford, thanks to libro.fm.The more I sit with this, the more impressed I am with how Ford managed to capture her experiences in an open, clear, vulnerable and thoughtful voice. This is a coming of age memoir that manages not only to describe the memories of her past, but to seat them in the experiences of the present. To make the sorts of connections that feel real and heartbreaking and that a lot of times felt relatable to me....

4 stars “Kids can always tell the difference between adults who want to empower them, and adults who want to overpower them.” Somebody’s Daughter is the personal memoir of Ashley C. Ford and her childhood. She grew up with her father incarcerated for most of her life, and in her mind she put him on a pedestal even though she didn’t know what he did to be there. Ashley also had a very complicated relationship with her mother and didn’t know how to handle her own worries or changing body. “I

I finished the audio edition of Ashley C. Ford’s memoir SOMEBODY’S DAUGHTER yesterday during my morning walk, thanks to @librofm ACL program. It usually takes me a long time to craft a review for books so while I plan to write out a full format review for this book, I decided to rush over & give you a list of things that made me inhale the book. I am also rushing to post because you really need to pre-order this book! I got the idea of listing thoughts from a post @readingwithnani did a while ag...

Library overdrive....Audiobook....read by the author, Ashley Ford ....8 hours and 44 minutes I’ve listened to so many memoirs since the pandemic .... (maybe as many in a ‘year-in-a-half’ than all my past years combined)... so why stop now....Haha. My library had it readily available...so I went with it. I couldn’t help but wonder, “How many books are titled “Somebody’s Daughter”? I know of two: “Somebody’s Daughter”, by David Bell....(a psychological thriller I haven’t read), and “Somebody’s Dau...

*I was sent a free ARC of this book by Flatiron books in exchange for an honest review*Ashley C. Ford’s raw and honest memoir tells her story of growing up poor in Indiana with an incarcerated father and abusive mother. She details her adolescence, including her growing and important relationship with her grandmother, the assault she suffered at the hands of her first boyfriend, and her journey to becoming a first-generation college student. All the while, she ruminates on her father’s absence a...

Intersting Memoir Without a Memorable MessageA coming-of-age memoir about growing up a Black girl with an incarcerated father and the path to truly understand and overcome our origins. While Ashley idolized her father she barely knew, her life was shaped by her mother and grandmother. As she ages, she eventually learns why her father is in prison and must reconcile her own identity with her family's past.Although the book is marketed as Ford's relation with her father, it's really about her rel

“i was a child, unspoiled in a certain way. i didn’t doubt myself. i decided and i tried. then i’d fail and try again. or i would succeed and go on to try something new. i was not always as afraid of the world or as nervous about the other people living in it alongside me, or what they might do to me. when my life was new, i understood in my bones how little it mattered what anybody else was doing, or what they thought about what i was doing. i believed my bones then.”there were so many moments