Colleen Faulkner

The protagonists in Colleen Faulkner’s As Close As Sisters grew up together and maintained their bonds of friendship through adulthood, marriage, motherhood and more, till now they’re forty-somethings facing change. MacKenzie might be dying. Her daughters might not know it. Lilly wants what MacKenzie had. Janine wants to sell the house. And Aurora—successful, independent Aurora—wants things to change or go back to being the same. But summer has come and summer will go. Life will go show more on, while lasts and firsts intertwine and fears and hopes switch places; while smiles pasted on faces become true images of the past. After all, what kept these four women together all this time, and what really happened to bind them?

The author creates very believable characters and lets them tell their own tales, at their own pace. Each person’s narration follows naturally from what went before, and the voices are so convincing it’s easy to tell who’s speaking when. The past is not so much secret as untouched, untested, making the novel’s mystery and emotions feel deeply honest and powerful. It’s a dark past, and it casts a long shadow over new lives and old. But it’s perfectly told in a novel that flows smoothly through genuine relationships, inviting the reader to draw near. I really enjoyed it.

Disclosure: I think the cover and the title hooked me, and I’m really glad they did. show less

This is my first read of 2017, and it's a re-read of a favorite. I also re-read all the reviews before writing this. Some of the criticisms are fair. The ending is abrupt (no spoiler), Ally isn't the most likeable parent on the planet, and there are stereotypes of people with intellectual disabilities rampant in the narrative.

However, life doesn't always give closure when life happens. I guess that's why an abrupt ending feels okay here. I know that many readers don't like it when the climax show more comes so close to the end of the book, and you don't even have time to catch your breath. But I do. It feels realistic when that happens.

Again, Alicia (Ally) wasn't the most likeable or the most politically correct parent on the planet. Her counterpart, Thomas's mother Margaret, was much more likeable. She was pleasant and cheerful and fully supportive of his inclusion in certain activities. But when it came to the relationship between Chloe and Thomas, Alicia was the more realistic parent about the limitations of these two individuals. Not all mentally challenged people are incapable of romantic relationships, but this isn't a story about people in general. This is a story about Chloe and Thomas. It may not have been politically correct to resist their marriage, but Alicia knew her daughter. She knew what she could handle and what she couldn't. I don't think that Margaret realized the impact that this relationship could have on everyone.

At the end, who was affected the most by what happened? Not Margaret and her husband. Chloe and Thomas lived with Alicia during their marriage. Yes, there were things I'm surprised that Alicia didn't handle differently (birth control being one of them). That came from her denial of the possibility of sexuality for someone with an intellectual disability. By the time she realized her mistake, she couldn't take some of the actions she might have if she had dealt with it when Chloe was younger. (I'm not saying that those actions would have been the right thing to do, but they would have been alternatives that many parents might have considered.)

I'm not sure what I would have done in her shoes. All I know is that everything I know and believe about intimacy for people with disabilities was turned upside down for re-examination. I don't know if it will ever look quite the same.

Now that's a novel. show less

Just Like Other Daughters is a moving and thought-provoking story by author Collen Faulkner, better known for her bodice ripper romances.

Alicia Richards should be delighted that her twenty five year old daughter has fallen in love for the first time. She has never wanted more for Chloe than to be happy but Alicia is plagued with misgivings about the relationship because Chloe has Downs Syndrome and her beau, Thomas, is intellectually challenged.

As a parent, Alicia is loving and supportive of show more Chloe, even if perhaps a little over protective. She doesn’t always have all the answers but it is obvious that Alicia has always done the best she can for her daughter’s health, safety and well being. Chloe’s sexuality and her relationship with Thomas, is a challenge Alicia never expected to face and she finds it difficult to reconcile her daughter’s desires with her limitations. Faulkner’s exploration of Alica’s conflicting thoughts and emotions is compassionate and honest. I could empathise with Alicia’s very real concerns about the situation, as well as understand her wish to support her daughter’s independence.

Alicia is a well rounded, realistically depicted character, not just Chloe’s mother, she is also a respected college professor juggling the demands of her career with single parenting and the vagaries of an old house. She has been divorced from Chloe’s lecherous jerk of a father for sometime but is still struggling from the fall out of her marriage collapse and her ex’s disinterest in his daughter. With her mother long passed and her father largely absent from her life, Alicia has found support in her friendship with neighbour, Jin but she still hopes to find a romantic relationship.

Though primarily written from Alicia’s first person perspective, Faulkner also provides us with brief glimpses of Chloe’s viewpoint throughout the novel. I thought these snippets helped to develop Chloe’s character, illustrating her emotional range, as well as her cognitive limitations.

The author also touches on the attitudes of others to relationships between those with intellectual challenges, and the conflict between practical concerns and well meaning idealism that surrounds the issue. A scene involving a doctor who refused to provide Chloe with birth control struck me particularly, personally I thought he was totally irresponsible.

Perhaps the only flaw in this novel for me involved the ending, which I thought was abrupt and somewhat unresolved. An epilogue would have been nice simply because I badly wanted things to work out for Alicia.

I found Just Like Other Daughters to be an emotional and affecting read, a story about love in all its permutations, its joys and its sorrows, its rewards and its price. This is a wonderful novel and I am happy to recommend it. show less

Just Like Other Daughters is a remarkable story. It is simple, direct and beautiful and then deceptively complex. Chloe goes to adult care on a day she doesn’t normally attend and meets Thomas. How can two mentally disabled 20-somethings make a go of a real relationship and do they deserve that chance? As much as Alicia loves Chloe she sees her as somewhat suspended in time. A forever child. Alicia, to an extent, has also put her own life on hold using her daughter as something of an show more excuse not to spend too much time with anyone or get close to anyone. In a bold and brillant move, Faulkner not only gives us the tale from Alicia’s point of view but Chloe’s as well.

Just Like Other Daughters is a character driven tale of the relationship of a mother and daughter who have been on their own throughout the daughter’s life. Readers will think of the novel’s description that they’ve read this story before. You have not. Faulker’s approach is fresh and new. She takes chances from which a less experienced writer might shy away. Whatever happens in the course of the story, the reader is left with the sense that this is a mother who truly loves her daughter and truly wants the best for her. Sentimentality isn’t usually my chosen genre but I could not put Just Like Other Daughters down. The course seemed obvious but as the tale progressed I simply had to know what would happen next. show less