Love this writer's style. A beautifully written book about growing up with an alcoholic father and the impact it has on children well into adulthood. Great character development that literally pulls the reader into the story. It was like watching a movie instead of reading a book. Sad, funny, frightening, sad, hopeful.

I enjoyed this book. It's well written and hard to put down, tragic and real.

Beautfiul, well written book, very unusual

Father of the Rain by Lily King Lily King has written two previous novels which won praise and awards. In "Father of the Rain" King she handles themes of father/daughter relationship , dysfunctional family, alcoholism and more with a real understanding of the psychological and social implications and with believable characters. Daley is an eleven year old who has to deal with enormous pressures, from both of her parents. Her father Gardiner Amory is an out of control Harvard educated alcoholic who struggles to keep face in his well to do New England waspish neighborhood while behaving irresponsibly, jumping around naked in the pool with the kids, reading PlayBoy letters to them and worst. The mother is devoted to giving out political parties and hardly noticing her own kids. Both competing for their kids allegiance. Gardiner, a bigot, is abandoned by his wife and quickly remarries and takes in an already formed family which Daley has to deal with in her weekend visits, where she feels her house, her room have been taken over. As Daley grows up we see her as a PHD graduate that has just landed a job in Berkeley and has fallen in love with Jonathan, also a graduate, who she plans to live with in California and whose color will certainly set off his father's insensitive opinions. Daley's brother calls for help. Gardiner is drinking around the clock, depressed and in danger of suicide. He pleads with her. He asks her to visit their father and sort him out, just when she was planning to move out west. This decision will prove to be an excruciating journey. She intends to heal and mend her father, and their relationship with each other. To love a person who she hated many times and to expect to be loved motivates her to carry on despite his counterproductive behavior. Will she manage to succeed? What about Jonathan...Will she lose him forever? Remarkably achieves to get the readers to intimately know the characters and the topic from a realistic perspective.