REVIEW:

Analyzing the Prescotts by Dawn Reno Langley was a book that at first I wasn’t sure I was going to like. I learned a few words while reading this book that I have never used or come across before. That, my friends, is okay! I love reading books that teach me something I didn’t know. This is the first book I have read by Professor Langley. It probably won’t be my last.

I have to confess that I had an ulterior motive for contacting the author and requesting to read her book. This book is about a family in crisis. The father in this book has left his family to transition to a female. We have a family member that is transgender and I wanted to understand a bit more about what this is all about. I wanted to understand the thought processes and the ins and outs of what they are feeling. The main thing is I want to understand and have knowledge.

The wife who was left behind has a very hard time coming to terms with what has come out in the open. Her children have a hard time because of the way she is and is not handling the situation. The children being younger have an easier time accepting their father. The book is centered on the counseling sessions that the family goes through both individually and as a group. The therapist they choose is also dealing with her own issues both professional and personal.

I was engrossed with the characters. We learn about each of them through the eyes of other family members and the eyes of the therapist. Some of the family members write about how they are feeling and processing. I love how Prof. Langley lets us learn about each of them and most of all learn about transgender people. There are some twists in this story that I didn’t see coming and that only served to pull me in more. 

This was a book that I took my time to read. I wanted to absorb what she had to teach me. I didn’t want to rush through it and miss some important points. I wanted to get all I could out of this story and I think I did. I am more empathetic and sympathetic to the whole topic and what transgenders and their families are experiencing. I highly recommend this book. I always love to learn as I read. I think that is the best way to educate ourselves. Until next time…Happy Reading!

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

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SYNOPSIS:

The heart-wrenching tale of a family in crisis and the therapist who makes the tough decision to save herself.

Every member of the Prescott family struggles with identity issues when the father, Hailey Prescott, leaves the family to live life as a woman, sending them all tumbling into emotions so violent they threaten to tear the family fabric to shreds. When Dr. Cotton Barnes, a happily married psychologist from Raleigh, North Carolina, signs on to treat the family, she is challenged to the edges of her own fragile boundaries as cracks in the veneer of the Prescotts’ lives become craters.

The family members relate their stories in their chosen voices, each narrative in a different format. Marcus, the youngest, speaks to Cotton through his avatars; Gray, the mother, distances herself by referring to herself in the third person; the oldest child, Janis-a self-avowed loner-uses a defunct social media app; while the middle child, Cheryl, tries to keep everyone personally happy in person; and Hailey, the novelist father, hides behind her journals.

The Prescotts take turns breaking down and breaking through a roller coaster of emotions that mirrors what’s happening in the Raleigh area: a series of LGBTQ+ hate crimes rocks the community to its core. Telling herself she must save them, Cotton stalks the family, but when Hailey Prescott becomes the latest victim of brutality, Cotton is forced to make a decision that will determine whether she saves her own marriage or the Prescotts. Or herself.

Analyzing the Prescotts is the latest from Dawn Reno Langley, a novelist who Foreword Reviews says writes with “authority and fine craftsmanship.”