Friday, December 21, 2012

Sins of the Mother


Title:  Sins of the Mother
Author:  Danielle Steel
Publication Information:  Delacorte Press, Random House Publishing Group, Random House Inc. 2012. 354 pages.

Book Source:  I just read Danielle Steel books - that's my reason. The book came as a hardcover from our library.

Favorite Quote:  "Someone once said that being grown up is being able to accept your parents as they are. The trouble is that most of us don't grow up in that sense. We want our parents to be perfect and live up to our ideals. Our children want us to forgive them unconditionally for their mistakes, but they don't want to forgive us anything. At some point that no longer works."

Sins of the Mother is the latest of Danielle Steel books, and it brings what fans have come to expect in a  Danielle Steel novel - beautiful people, beautiful places, and emotional drama. In this case, the mother is Olivia Grayson. She has spent her life building a worldwide business empire. She has provided for her four children in every way except that she was rarely present during their childhood. Now that they are all adults, that fact and their emotions surrounding it still continue to impact their relationships both with their mother and with others in their lives.

To look at this book, I have to separate it into two parts. The Grayson family is enormously wealthy. The book begins as Olivia Grayson charters a private luxury yacht to sail the Italian Riviera for two weeks with her children, their spouses, and grandchildren. That kind of a lifestyle is so completely beyond the realm of my reality - and most people's reality - that it becomes removed. I almost found myself ignoring that part because I cannot relate to it.

On the other hand, the family dynamics, relationships, and emotions are what I do relate to. As a parent, I understand the desire of wanting to do the best for my children and the choices never being easy. Family relationships and drama transcend economic boundaries - people are people regardless of their economic circumstances. It is those aspects of Danielle Steel's books that keep me reading.

Overall, if you are a Danielle Steel fan, you will enjoy this latest addition to her impressively long list of books. If you are not, this one will not turn you into one.

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