Daddy

'Daddy' turned out to be a better experience that I anticipated. Not a big fan of lifetime movies or that sort, I was pleased to find this wasn't a melodramatic story that induced eye-rolling. Instead it was a very real drama with grief, trauma, and ultimate triumph over life's obstacles. The characters helped keep things afloat; the protagonist, "Daddy", "Oliver" was a man easy to understand. Even the woman who caused everyone conflict, Sarah, was written to be sympathetic in the beginning (sometimes.) Either way she was realistic at least, as were the kiddies and everyone else.

The pace for this sort of story - one that relies mainly on emotional change - was surprisingly quick. We start right at the beginning with the thoughts of show more abandonment brewing in Sarah's unhappy head, and by the third chapter everyone's life has been effectively turned upside down and gone topsy turvy.

The back cover blurb mentions three lives hanging in the wind here, but they doesn't grow confusing, as it mainly still leaned on Oliver's handling of their situations. I admit to crying when the mother died of an Alzheimer's related accident - something I hope to never grow through with a loved one. This family clearly had a rough patch but they were written in such a way that the reader genuinely cheered for them when things grew better. Staying through the ride of frustration and unhappiness was not easy, though, and during the book you may feel as drained as they are (which is what the author hopes to accomplish.)

On the negative side, Steel really needs - and hopefully has by now - to learn how to effectively head-hop. In one large paragraph she incorrectly switched from three people's points of view. Never is this allowed, as it's always confusing and just bad writing form. In this book, this even happens in the same sentence, one person's thoughts separated by another's by a mere comma mark!

And, although this may seem silly and wrong of me, Oliver is just too damn weepy. He's a great guy I enjoyed and rooted for, and I'm all for a man that sheds a tear when the situation warrants it, but I can't count on one hand how many times he switched on the waterworks. It's a small side issue, though, and of course didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book or affect it's rating. Still it was an unrealistic flaw that never helped the character. His sweet personality was endearing but sometimes I just wanted to grab him and yell, "Shake her, call her a rotten bitch, scream, something!"

Basically this book was good, so I see why Steel has made a name for herself. I remember wanting to read this when I was a pre-teen but for some reason or other my mother denied it. Oh well, parents can't make sense all the time right? Just like ones in this book. Give it a try if you want to weep a bit or are in the mood for some inspiring drama. show less

First Danielle Steele I have read. I was impressed. Well-drawn uncliche characters, meaningful plot.

The perfect life - the job, the wife, the house, the kids, the loving parents - Oliver Watson had settled into a life that was exactly what he wanted till the day his wife decided to return to school without any of them. Now Oliver had to be the sole source of income for the family, the supportive son to a mother with Alzheimer’s, the single parent to all of his kids and deal with the loss of his partner and friend of about 20 years. Learning to respond as both parents was a test for this new single father and deciding where the family should go from there now fell on him alone.

A tender and heartwarming story, as many of Danielle Steele’s are, it was written as a modern enough story that it is still possible, actually probable in show more today’s life, very realistic. The connections between father and kids was the best for me. The moment of realization, for any parent really, that makes you say to yourself, ’I did ok’ is all that any of us can ask for. While the romance was encouraging, it was standard, the family dynamics of this story is what sets it apart. show less

This was part of the Danielle Steel "Golden Age" where her books really were page turners.

This one is about Oliver, a Chicagoland executive that thinks he has the perfect home with the perfect wife/homemaker. Then tragedy strikes, ala Steel's protagonist spiral around the bowl. Oliver's mother gets sick and die. Oliver's wife goes off to do her Masters Degree and loves the freedom and ABANDONS her kids, leaving Oliver a single father after 20 years of marriage. His oldest son is rebellious and gets a chick knocked up. His middle child feels abandoned and lashes out at her father. The youngest child is too young to be heard and is ignored. So Oliver takes a gig in Los Angeles and uproots his family. The oldest son stays behind to be a show more low wage poverty worker raising a derelict son with a chick that hates him for detaching from his father's money. The other kids get enthralled in LA life, and Oliver somehow finds love with a celebrity as his wife moves on and gets dick from a professor. In the end he gets what he wants, a woman that wants to be a wife, all his kids back under one roof, and the original life sans his mother he wanted.

Take it for what it is. The movie with Patrick Duffy, Kate Mulgrew, Lynda Carter, and Ben Affleck is the tops! show less

Really sad story with a happy ending in true Danielle Steel style

Oliver Watson has worked hard to build a safe, predictable world. But suddenly it seems to dissolve around him. The marriage he thought was perfect crumbles after eighteen years. His mother is killed in an untimely accident, leaving his father newly widowed and trying, at seventy-two, to build a new world for himself. Oliver's eldest son rejects him and reaches out towards a life of his own, a life he is not mature enough to handle. Melissa, his daughter, unequivocably blames her father for her mother's desertion, while Sam, the 'baby', is too shaken to deal with it at all.

Daddy by Danielle Steel
This book is about George, Oliver and Benjamin, 3 generations of one family, are all learning to cope with their struggles in life.
Their spouses: one is dying, another is heading off to college and one is expecting a baby.
Moments of joy and some tragedies as the twists and turns in this book leave you wondering what will happen next to each of them.
Lots of travel and much more loving.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).

One of my favorite DS novels ... I have the hardback and won't get rid of it. Great for when I need a good cry!