by Amy Borovoy (2005)
Social drinking is an accepted aspect of working life in Japan, and women are left to manage their drunken husbands when the men return home, restoring them to sobriety for the next day of work. In attempting to cope with their husbands' alcoholism, the women face a profound cultural dilemma: when does the nurturing behavior expected of a good wife and mother become part of a pattern of behavior that is actually destructive? How does the celebration of nurturance and dependency mask the exploitative aspects not just of family life but also of public life in Japan?
Dwayne S. Joseph
The Lincoln brothers--Randy, who is going through baby momma drama; Abe, who cheats on his sick wife; and Travis, whose boyfriend abuses him--must find a way to put aside their differences and come together when tragedy strikes.
Suzanne Slater
Until now, lesbian families have had little help in identifying the stages of their couple relationships or recognizing the often stressful periods of relational transition. In this first-of-its-kind book, psychotherapist Suzanne Slater describes the joys and stresses common to lesbian families and provides a five-stage model of the development of lesbian couple relationships, from formation through old age and death. Drawing on sixteen years of clinical experience and research, Slater shows that lesbian families with and without children have created their own richly diverse family patterns, extending both the parameters of coupled life and the very definition of what constitutes "family." She describes the tasks, challenges, and accomplishments particular to each stage of the family life cycle, and helps couples distinguish between normal developmental stresses and the unique difficulties of particular couples. She considers in detail lesbian couples' interaction with their original families, with the straight world, and with the lesbian communities of which they are a part. Through a range of examples and cases, Slater addresses how lesbian families are affected by their position in a homophobic culture and details the unique coping mechanisms that different lesbian couples have created. Most important, she emphasizes the sources of fulfillment common to many lesbian families. In addition to educating lesbian couples and those close to them, this book will prepare psychotherapists to design more effective and informed therapeutic strategies. Instead of relying on theory based on heterosexual experience, clinicians can now base their interventions on what is normal for lesbian family life. The Lesbian Family Life Cycle will be invaluable reading for lesbian family members, their friends and relatives, and clinicians in a variety of helping professions.
John Elder Robison
John Robison was never a model child, and he wasn't a model dad either. Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at forty, he approached fatherhood as series of logic puzzles and practical jokes. Still, John got the basics right, and gave his son Cubby a life of adventure. What he couldn't figure out was what to do when school authorities said that Cubby was dumb and stubborn - the very same thing he had been told as a child.
Julia Brannen, Ellen Heptinstall & Kalwant Bhopal
"The central focus of the book is children and their connection to family life: both the ways they are connected to families of different kinds and the connections they make themselves in terms of meanings, intentions and actions... focuses on four different types of family setting: two-parent families, lone mother families, step families, and foster care"--P. [1].