Father of the Rain

I would have very easily given the first part of Father of the Rain a high 4 star rating. The book begins during Daley's childhood years, as she struggles with facing her parents' divorce. This first section is painful to read, but feels true. 11-year old Daley struggles to understand why her world is falling apart, her separation for her father and the fact that he now has a new family. No matter what he's done, no matter that he is an alcoholic, self-absorbed, self-destructive and everything else, in the end he's still her dad. It's easy to sympathise with the all the characters in this first part, but particularly Daley.

The second and third parts didn't ring as true for me as the first. Daley's adult years felt a little too constructed (the perfect boyfriend/job/life that Daley has to sacrifice for her father, the fact her father's life falls apart at exactly the worst moment when she hasn't heard or really cared about him in years, the childhood crush still living in her hometown etc.) and the story lost it's believability. There are still poignant scenes and the relationship between Daley and her father is interesting, but I can't help feeling that too many times I felt I was being preached to in some way, and that things wouldn't play out this way for a real life dysfunctional family.