The wistfulness of life not going as you had planned or hoped is a theme of this novel. With women protagonists that often experience societal limits to what they want to do (save the intrepid aunt who is the exception), there is a common thread across generations about how each felt and what they did in response to their difficult circumstances. It is a bit long, though, and I wondered at times if we were ever going to move ahead. ( )

I grew up in Ohio and had grandparents in Cleveland Heights and in Athens County - complete opposite ends of the spectrum. This novel rings so true for me: I was born in 1957, graduated from high school in 1975 and went to Bowling Green State University. My father was the high school basketball star and my mother was short enough that she had to stand on two steps to kiss him. My father died before he reached the age of 60. I tried to place myself in Sam's shoes throughout and it was so easy - thankfully, we didn't have the drama as in the book. ( )

I follow Connie Schultz on twitter, and she seems just lovely. So, it's slightly disappointing that I liked, but didn't love, this book. ( )

Standard woman-centric three generation novel, set in Shittown, Ohio. A bit unusual for the framework of domestic violence, but fairly predictable. ( )

Ellie Fetters, still in high school, wanted to become a nurse. She was offered a full scholarship to Smith College. Her father, Brick, refused to let her accept it. He said it was charity. “ What they mean is they get to show you off like a prize monkey… Told you for the rest of your life. The matter what you accomplish, it will never feel like you did on your own because you’ll owe that school something you can’t ever paid back.”

Brick McGinty, Ellie’s boyfriend, a high school senior, was a basketball star. His father was extremely abusive and Brick saw college as a way to escape both his father and the small northeast Ohio town in which they lived. He would be the first basketball star from their school to go to college.

Then Ellie became pregnant and their dreams dissolved into reality.

Their story, the story of many working class people in fictional Erietown, Ohio, is the story of many others like them. How they manage to survive, thrive, and improve the chances for their daughter is honestly told in Connie Schultz’s THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN, herself the product of a similar background. The book includes flashbacks when appropriate to show what happened that lead to the current situation. It tells of the lives and attitudes of the people of Erietown including class and racial divisions and how women began using their own names rather than the honorific “Mrs (husband’s name)”.

There is an interesting section about how electricity is brought into lives.

THE DAUGHTERS OF ERIETOWN is a thoughtful, well-written, story that most people can relate to. ( )