Customer Reviews

Perfect Daughters (Revised Edition)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a child of an alcoholic Mother. I try very hard to avoid books that talk about adult children of Alcoholics becuase they usually make things sound very over technical and impersonal. I am not a very emotional person and I know the decisions I make in my life are because of my families alcoholic issues. However, this was a book that was not very hard to read and I would highly recoomend it. After reading the very first story and bawling my eyes out about that little family princess who never understood and was always trying to make it okay, I knew the book was for me to read. That's ME!!! That's ME!!! I kept saying over and over. Ironically I highlighted every sentence and passage that had to do with my childhood and feelings in the book and I believe I ended up with 90% of it highlighted. I couldn't help to think that someone had a hidden journal on my heart and feelings growing up. If only that person had stepped in when I was young what a difference it would have made. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!!

Having recently come to understand the role of my alcoholic parents' habits in my development as an adult, I have been seeking every possible source for information and strategies for dealing with my own behavior problems. I have found some wonderful sources -- Janet Woititz' books, for example. I had high hopes for this book, Perfect Daughters since I am such a freak but what I got was a book written in large print, at a level merely approaching 6th grade, that is 40% this man's clients' letters. His analysis is facile and offers nothing new. Yes, we all feel this way; yes we all share certain qualities, but anyone who's done only minimal research will discover this very soon. This book offers nothing new. I feel ripped off by the book's "promises", insulted by the writers' tone and plethora of marginally relevant quotations clearly pasted from quotes.com. Don't buy this book; check it out of the library and get what good you can from it. There is some there, but not $10 worth.

I bought this book through a suggestion from a co-worker. When I received it at work in the mail, I opened the cover, checked out the chapters and turned to one in particular. I read only half the page and broke down crying. The truth is written in these pages. I have given a copy of this book to my sister. I recommend that if you are an adult daughter of an alcoholic parent, that you read this book. It ISN'T your fault, you are a valuable human being and it's about time that YOU take charge of your life. Get strong, face the truth, conquer your fears, find peace within yourself. No one says it's not going to hurt. Facing ourselves is the hardest part. Getting well is the reward. I can let go of the past and learn from it or I could go on holding a grudge. Good-bye Mom, sorry you were so sick from alcoholism. Hello new life, I am reborn. I am a wonderful human being. Thanks to this book I can say these things. It will take time to heal, but I have a new start because my eyes have been opened and I don't want to make the choices I've made in the past. I don't have to make those choices anymore, I am set free from the truth of my "brainwashing" of childhood.

This book was so helpful with it's insight into the experience of having an alcoholic parent. It is written well, easy to follow and answers questions you didn't even know you had. I highly recommend this book to anyone, but especially to people like myself who are at the beginning of their quest for the truth and don't want to read a book that feels too clinical and complicated.

I have never read a single "recovery" book with as much information about the many "experiences and issues" I have dealt with in my adult life that began in infancy and sometimes I wonder if they began in the womb! It is one of those books that seems to have been written by the reader themself. I highly recommend it to all women who grew up in dysfunctional families. It speaks in terms of alcoholic parents but many parents who do not drink, exhibit the same behavior and personalities. Though we know we are not unique in this area, it is reassuring to read the stories of other women who have experienced the same things and feelings; to understand ourselves better and that we can turn our experiences, pain, trauma, etc. into assets if we want to live our best lives. To become the person we were meant to be.

This book is excellent if you have recently discovered you are an Adult Child of an Alcoholic. I read and saw so many of the same problems and characteristics that I had been struggling with. At the end it provided information on what to do next and gave me a very upslifting feel of how things can change for the better.

This is a wonderful book for women who grew up in an alcoholic home. Dr. Ackerman has obviously done much research into the subject. He digs into the affects on your life if the alcoholic was a father, mother, or both. I have read this book three different times over the last several years and each time I get new insight. My recent purchases were for a friend and her daughters - all of them grew up in alcoholic homes. I highly recommend this book.

Linda R.

This is an incredible book, it has hit on so many feelings and things that I, myself have been going through, wish I had know about this book earlier in my life, it would have made things a little easier to cope with, thank you for writing it. It should be shared with everyone whom has had an alcoholic parent.

Excellent book and good guidence to take real action to get passed our childhood bagggage and to start dealing in reality with adult tools and understanding.

This book has really helped me to organize my thoughts and feelings. I feel like a more centered person.