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A review by alexandrabree
Can I Let You Go?: A Heartbreaking True Story of Love, Loss and Moving on by Cathy Glass
4.0
The first book of this type I have read centring on a disabled adult.
We are brought into this book on the eve of Cathy's fathers funeral, over the course of many books I had grown very attached to the family (I remember years ago when Glass wrote about the divorce I was angry and upset with her husband for days - I literally spent hours thinking about his character and I don't and won't ever know the man obviously) I was heart broken that the family had lost this loving caring father and grandfather.
Then we are introduced to Faye, I am not going to lie I expected something very disturbing to have happened to this young lady to get her pregnant - or at least something that was very disturbing to her, consent given but then having Faye understand what had happened - particularly when they started to hint at her denial ( or her not understanding what happened at all).
It was sad to see how much she could understand and yet how much of the same information she didn't grasp. The grandmothers influence was irritating and wonderful all at the same time. I understand why they had ignored the presents of the baby to distance themselves but that still did not make it the right approach. I was shocked at how little support the family had considering Faye's disability and her grandparents health - in a perfect world I think the lot of them would have been in a care home situation (although we don't know the full extent of everything or the details).
I knew right from the beginning that Faye would not be allowed to keep her baby, and I was amazed that Glass had ever thought she would (she did express doubt and realism but....) it was obvious to me that Faye just didn't have the ability to mother a child and that no amount of help from her grandparents would have been able to change that.
this was a very touching story, tragic and I would have liked to know more about the mother and her situation but as a work of non-fiction the author cannot obviously just come up with these facts that are very personal (and I cannot see the grandparents wanting to share or Faye knowing the full story)
We are brought into this book on the eve of Cathy's fathers funeral, over the course of many books I had grown very attached to the family (I remember years ago when Glass wrote about the divorce I was angry and upset with her husband for days - I literally spent hours thinking about his character and I don't and won't ever know the man obviously) I was heart broken that the family had lost this loving caring father and grandfather.
Then we are introduced to Faye, I am not going to lie I expected something very disturbing to have happened to this young lady to get her pregnant - or at least something that was very disturbing to her, consent given but then having Faye understand what had happened - particularly when they started to hint at her denial ( or her not understanding what happened at all).
It was sad to see how much she could understand and yet how much of the same information she didn't grasp. The grandmothers influence was irritating and wonderful all at the same time. I understand why they had ignored the presents of the baby to distance themselves but that still did not make it the right approach. I was shocked at how little support the family had considering Faye's disability and her grandparents health - in a perfect world I think the lot of them would have been in a care home situation (although we don't know the full extent of everything or the details).
I knew right from the beginning that Faye would not be allowed to keep her baby, and I was amazed that Glass had ever thought she would (she did express doubt and realism but....) it was obvious to me that Faye just didn't have the ability to mother a child and that no amount of help from her grandparents would have been able to change that.
this was a very touching story, tragic and I would have liked to know more about the mother and her situation but as a work of non-fiction the author cannot obviously just come up with these facts that are very personal (and I cannot see the grandparents wanting to share or Faye knowing the full story)