Customer Reviews
Interesting Topic 
2008-10-12
This book is written about an interesting topic, I think, that many people would be interested in, since, you know, half the population is female and has a father. No matter what the person's relationship to their father, be it good or bad, I think this book is insightful, because even in a good relationship, there are shadows and undercurrents and spoken or unspoken negotiations. I think this book is particularly interesting right now, as well, as the culture of the United States seems to have returned to a male oriented, and non-reflective perspective, and seems to have some sort of amnesia that at other times, people were at least trying to listen to "female" perspectives as well, and that these perspectives had credibility. Although this book is written from a sort of Jungian archetypal perspective, which can seem sort of limiting at times, at least it assures that there is or could be a female archetype for this relationship, and to me, there is such little information anyway that ever covered this topic, that it is helpful anyway. I want to keep it on my bookshelf until there is some kind of re-movement towards a more positive direction, politically, economically, and socially for women in the United States.
Artsy, but superficial 
2008-08-18
I am glad that i picked up this book second-hand. Although the author does reference several classic films and stories, these detailed descriptions of other, better works are the best part of the book. In addition, there is a strong subtext throughout the book of the author's narrow opinions about what a "feminine" woman should be like- artistic and creative only. One is left with the impression that she views any sort of logical, analytical nature in a woman as pathology, or at least unnatural. She offers little in the way of true description of maladaptive behavior patterns, preferring to refer the reader to fictional characters, and very little advice about dealing with those issues beyond offering more flowery passages. Basically, if you want to sit around and pet yourself about how cultured and wounded you are, go ahead and waste the money. If you want genuine help for genuine issues, look elsewhere.
For Women with Relationship Issues.... 
2006-12-02
So I picked this book up recently and had another one of my revelations about my life recently. Through the father and daughter wound chapters I realized that I had spent the last 15 years in a career that, while very successful for me, left me empty.
After reading some personally important chapters in this book, I finally decided to make some necessary changes in my life and have decided to explore the creative, literary, psychology driven side of my life that was previously kept for "down" time.....
Ladies...buy this book...you will not regret it...
Understanding Problems with Your Father 2006-08-08
I discovered this book after seeing it recommended in May Sarton's At Seventy. She admired Leonard's courage "in talking frankly about her relation to her father and combining her insights learned from patients (she is a psychotherapist) with her experience." Sarton said the book spoke to her with great force. The author uses fairy tales to make some of her points.
Many women suffer from overweight, depression, harmful relationships, drug or alcohol dependency, or anxiety. The author traces much of this to the wounded relationship with the father. Actions that harm the father/daughter relationship include the father's inability to show love, alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse, divorce, abandonment or absence.
Good First Step for Daughters Seeking to Heal 
2004-11-15
This book approaches healing the father-daughter relationship in an academic manner. It is helpful for those who work with women damaged by dysfunctional relationships with their fathers, but its academic approach may leave abused daughters seeking comfort and solutions disatisfied. Women seeking to heal their souls from the pain inflicted by their relationship with their fathers would find more hope and concrete skills for healing by reading some of the powerful memoirs by women who have survived and transcended difficult childhoods particularly "It Stops with Me" by Charleen Touchette, "The Color Purple" by Alice Waters, and "Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You" by Sue William Silverman. Of the three, "It Stops with Me" is the most recent addition to the literature of healing from the father-daughter relationship, and the most hopeful. The Author's courage to leave her culture behind to escape her father and her determination to create a better family life for her children is inspirational. Readers will find that "It Stops with Me" is a catalyst that will give them the strength to tell their own stories and begin their healing.
Free @ Last 2002-02-23
A father wounded in his psychological development, Linda Leonard believes, cannot often give his daughter the care and guidance she needs. Using examples from her own life and her work with clients, as well as dreams, fairy tales, myths, films, and literature, Leonard charts paths toward psychological transformation and a fruitful, caring relationship between men and women, fathers and daughters—one that honors both the mutuality and the uniqueness of the sexes.
For the intellect only. 2001-12-20
This book was a disappointment to me. I purchased it because I was hoping it would speak to my heart. It was very interesting, however, not at all evocative. This is such a painful area for so many women. It's a shame the author got caught up in analyzing her patients instead of helping us to empathize with their wounds.
Smart, realistic, and honest 2000-12-14
What I loved about this book was that unlike so many other books on father-daughter relationships this one did not oversimplify. Too many other books try to blame the father or blame the daughter and to squeeze us all into clear, but inaccurate roles. Linda Schierse Leonard recognizes that we are not always the same, that we are all actors as well as acted upon, and helps make our choices and their consequences clear. Brava!
An authentic picture of the feminine 1999-06-05
The reader from Houston would be advised to start thinking about the teachings of this book while she's doing her laundry. She might then find it deeper and more satisfying than her cursory reading of it implies. If it's true that the best books lead us onto other books, then this one passes the test with great generosity: I have already compiled an expanded reading (and film viewing) list from its pages. But it's more than that - a way for a woman to look at herself and the patterns of her life with a balance of emotion and detachment. It does not give easy and quick-fix solutions to what are, after all, heart-wrenching and ingrained problems, but a way towards transformation, towards breaking the negative patterns. On my first reading this book nearly broke me with its clear insights and wise compassion. How could a woman I don't know, half a world away, know so much about me? But it gave me the motivation to dig deeper and wider, and the eyes to see not only myself, my relationship with my father and with men, my creativity, but also my mother, my sisters, my friends. The use of myth - in fairy-tales, legends, novels and films - lends a strong intellectual framework to the book without sacrificing the emotional content, while the author's clinical experience and anecdotes from her own life places it firmly in the lives of real women. The author has done what many men say women cannot do: widen the perspective to embrace the large picture as well as zoom in on the details. I can't recommend this book enough, to men as well as women. Intelligent, perceptive, and emotionally mature.
I think my time would been better spent doing the laundry. 1999-02-20
I found this book to be not only wordy but also unsatisfying. It was written on a level far above the average reader's vocabulary. The most complex subject can be explained to a very small child when sufficiently broken down. However, distraught daughters don't get that luxury in this journal. Instead their serious, heart wrenching troubles get likened to characters in movies, myths, and legends in words and phrases that are not familiar to the average person. The reality was left totally lacking. Then, as if to add insult to injury, there was little, if any, resolution to the breach and resulting vacuum felt in the hearts of many women. I was left feeling very unsatisfied after reading this book.
