About the Book:

Just before eleven on an ordinary summer night in Washington, D.C., Tucker Jones picks up the phone, expecting to hear that his teenage daughter, Kat, is back from the movies. But the caller is another parent, a man who tells Tucker that Kat was actually at a party– and makes a shocking allegation about what happened to her there. From that moment Breaking Her Fall sweeps irresistibly forward to it s wrenching, and redemptive, conclusion.

In a blind rage, Tucker races to the party to find Kat already departed, but his full-boil interrogation of the boys still present spills over into a confrontation– and ends with one of the boys crashing into a glass tabletop. In a second, his rage turns to remorse, and he soon finds himself under arrest. Tucker could easily lose his home and his business, but he is most concerned about losing his daughter.

Stephen Goodwin writes with insight and rare power about the way that passion rearranges lives. As Tucker and Kat and everyone around them seek to repair the damages of that night, Breaking Her Fall charts their uncommonly difficult passage from despair to reconciliation and hope with extraordinary grace.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This book is an excellent portrayal of a father, and his teenage daughter, and the difficulties that this relationship encounters.  It is filled with all of the expected problems families encounter in a teenage, coming of age novel — parties, self identity crisis, rebellion, discontent, and even the traditional power struggle between teenager and parent.  And then there is the thrown in parental issues of protectiveness, love, concern, frustration, and ultimately an demonstration of unchecked anger.

But there are other things in this story that I found beautiful in their expression.  Tucker and Kat have a reversed role of a single parent home.  A father, left alone with his teenage daughter — and the difficulties that this presents in raising her.  I found the character of Tucker to be very believable, and very well developed.

Through Tucker, the story explores the realities of anger management issues, and the problems that this can bring.  When he gets into an altercation with a youth, at a party where his daughter was accused of severe sexual misconduct, Tucker finds himself under arrest.  His reaction to the situation is a classic example of the extent that parents would go to protect their children, even in the worst of circumstances.  But it also presents the limits to which that control can be exercised.

This one situation gives birth to the crux of the story — the fact that there comes a time in each child’s life when the parent has to step back, and allow their children to grow up, and live life on their own terms.  Tucker learns that he cannot fight all of his daughter’s battles, no matter how badly he would want to.  And in learning this lesson does serious damage to the one relationship in his life, which means the most to him.  At which point he is faced with the most difficult problem of all — how to rectify that damage.

Kat on the other hand is the stereotypical teenager that finds that some of life’s lessons are not always pleasant to learn.  Confronted with the serious damage done to her reputation — and difficulties that confronting that damage will mean throughout her life, she realizes that sometimes her father is right.

The beauty of the relationship between father and daughter in this book is an excellent story of the traditional struggle between a teenager who thinks they know everything, and a father who wishes that he did.  I really enjoyed the story in this book, and found that it is not just another teenage angst story, without resolution.  The author is an excellent example of talent, and understanding of his topic.  He has done a wonderful job of creating a solid story, with a very good moral.  A must read for parents and teenagers alike.

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