Longing for Daddy: Healing from the Pain of an Absent or Emotionally Distant Father
Robinson, whose father saw her once as a newborn and then never returned, writes about the pain and loss of growing up fatherless. She tells her female readers that whether they never had a father or had a horrible one, they can recover from the trauma by understanding and accepting the perfect, protective love of God. This God, she says, is the eternal father of the fatherless (Psalm 68), who will provide his daughters with all good gifts. Robinson's book is best when she describes the pain of a father's physical absence--reflecting her own experience--and less effective when she attempts to broaden the book's appeal to include those women whose fathers were emotionally absent through overwork or non-communication. Each chapter ends with questions for reflection, a Bible verse to memorize and a prayer to recite. Robinson's book is thoroughly steeped in the Bible, almost to a fault; she tends to spiritualize psychological issues and attributes enduring emotional scars to the power of Satan. Because the book is already heavily Christian, its appendix on the nuts and bolts of salvation is repetitive and therefore superfluous.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.