I am reading Big Girl by Danielle Steel. I read for 1.5 hours this week; pages 1-41.
Thus far this book is about a girl who is born to two parents who are completely focused on centering their lives around what other people think of them. The father, Jim, is the dominant male and likes to be in control of everything in his life, big part due to how he was raised. Jim married Christine who was raised to be the "perfect" wife (she cooked, cleaned, and obeyed), she basically was devoting her life to please and praise Jim. Christine's only failure in Jim's eyes is that she was unable to produce a son, which Jim so strongly wanted and was the one thing he could not control. The main character in this book is a girl named Victoria and she was mistreated from the start. Her father didn’t care too much for her because she turned out to be a girl, when all he wanted was a boy, and she wasn’t attractive (she didn’t look like either of her parents). Since Victoria’s mother lived to please and serve her father, she never stuck up for Victoria or treated her the way one would think a mother ought to treat a daughter. After seven or eight years Christine and Jim try again for a boy and end up with a girl again, but this time the baby is beautiful, perfect, and resembled it’s parents (according to Jim and Christine). Jim made it known to his oldest daughter that she was basically their trial run. Despite her parents lack of love, Victoria promises to love and take care of Grace, her younger sister, and to never let anyone hurt her. Victoria takes good care of Grace as she is growing up too. Though, Victoria has a difficult childhood and adolescence, everyone around her has made her feel like she isn’t good enough or not welcomed, even those who should flawlessly love her (her family). She decides to go far away from her home in California to start a new life at Northwestern.
I think I am going to enjoy this book as it deals with the idea that being different is ok and that we all need to accept who were are, for not a single one of us is identical to the other. While reading this week, I have been re-assured in the idea that not everyone is fit to be a parent.
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I used to love Danielle Steele books. I read them all the time in high school and college. I am kinda thinking I may need to try another one of her books! You are off to a good start, although you should have had 3 entries. Try to dedicate some time every weekend or on Monday to getting your blog done. More importantly, make sure you are getting that pleausre reading in and not just reading for classes!
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