Full Review by Books Paradise
This is a hard book that never makes hardship the point. Kane writes about inherited harm with enough clarity that the hope at the end feels earned rather than offered.
The second book in The Daughter of a Drunk takes on the sentence adult children of alcoholics dread most — that they will turn out exactly like the parent they spent years trying to escape. Howard Kane writes about inherited patterns without excusing them, and about the daily, unglamorous work of proving that sentence wrong. It is written for anyone who grew up listening for a car in the driveway.
A Story Worth Following
Exactly Like My Father is a raw, hopeful book about growing up with an alcoholic parent, and about refusing to accept inheritance as a verdict.
Atmosphere & Writing
Clear enough to read on a difficult day. Howard Kane writes with a control of tone that keeps Exactly Like My Father vivid from first page to last.
Characters That Stay With You
Family dynamics rendered with real accuracy. They carry the story’s weight without ever feeling like devices.
What Worked Brilliantly
- Unflinching honesty
- A genuinely useful perspective
- Hope that feels earned
What Could Be Better
- Heavy going in places
- Some repetition between chapters
Final Verdict
Exactly Like My Father is not a comfortable book, but it is a generous one. For anyone who grew up in a house like this, it reads like being told the truth kindly.
“The worst thing anyone said about him was that she was just like him.”
