HONEST and MOVING -Thank you for this In Depth Review!

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest and Moving By Richard B. - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Fifth Child: The Turbulent Path That Led to Parenting Our Child's Child (Kindle Edition) The author's honesty and clarity about her family's true life events, the deep love, sorrow, constant hope and equal disappointment are captured so well in this highly readable tragedy of one child's drug addiction. Fortunately, it is also a story of triumph over tragedy because of Lynne’s and Stu’s commitment to protect and love Brady without fail. The author's prose and conversational style – her thoughtful way of telling her family’s story – really draws the reader in. With Lynne’s telling, I felt very involved in so much of the family dynamics, experiencing Lynne’s conflicted life, wanting Jaime to succeed, knowing the likely outcome, and worrying for young Brady’s future. This tension between knowing that tragedy was ahead and wanting to know how Jaime and Brady will fare in succeeding days, kept me hooked. I found that once I started reading I was drawn in and quickly finished. Although, I never faced the challenges of addiction with my own kids, I found the book to be much broader in its appeal, especially in how parents try their best to make the right decisions for their children when, as most of us know, there is never a perfect answer. Because the book so immerses the reader in the author’s deeply personal recollections, if you are a parent, the story is deeply “relatable” as it makes a very personal connection, and, while reading, brings to mind one’s own life raising kids, the mistakes, joys and tragedies. The book also reinforced my belief that most parents do their best for their children. Indeed, after raising two kids myself and recalling the many, many challenges, I honestly don't see how, in the context of the real-time events of daily life, Lynne and Stu could have loved Jaime more or done better as parents. And Brady, his gems of wisdom nicely placed to introduce each chapter, is indeed a lucky child to have such great parents. I highly recommend this book and I am sure many parents will thank Lynne for writing such a touching and totally honest account of her family struggles.