Genevieve
I’m kind of sad to say this was my first time reading anything by Daniel Black, but it definitely won’t be my last.
This was such a beautifully written and emotional story. The entire book is basically a letter from a dying father, Jacob, to his son Isaac, and his son is gay, something Jacob struggled to accept. And this whole book is him finally being real about why he couldn’t love his son the way he should have.
Jacob is finally opening up and being honest about why he couldn’t love his son the way he deserved, and it’s not easy to read. It really gets into how Black men are raised to be tough, not soft, not emotional, being providers, and carrying all of that generational pressure.
What really stood out to me is how Daniel Black shows that a lot of parents are really just parenting the way they were parented. That doesn’t excuse the pain, but you see where it comes from, even when it hurts.
This book felt raw. Like I was sitting in the room with him while he was writing this letter, witnessing something personal that wasn’t meant for anyone else.
We don’t get a lot of stories where a parent is this vulnerable, where they admit they were wrong and actually apologize. That alone made this feel powerful and real.
However, He never even got the chance to say any of this face to face. He never reached out, never had that conversation with his son, and that frustrated me. Because at the end of the day, he chose not to. He had time, and instead he made excuses and I hated that.
I think I’m reading Isaac’s Song next because I really want to read the story from the son’s perspective.
I’m kind of sad to say this was my first time reading anything by Daniel Black, but it definitely won’t be my last.
This was such a beautifully written and emotional story. The entire book is basically a letter from a dying father, Jacob, to his son Isaac, and his son is gay, something Jacob struggled to accept. And this whole book is him finally being real about why he couldn’t love his son the way he should have.
Jacob is finally opening up and being honest about why he couldn’t love his son the way he deserved, and it’s not easy to read. It really gets into how Black men are raised to be tough, not soft, not emotional, being providers, and carrying all of that generational pressure.
What really stood out to me is how Daniel Black shows that a lot of parents are really just parenting the way they were parented. That doesn’t excuse the pain, but you see where it comes from, even when it hurts.
This book felt raw. Like I was sitting in the room with him while he was writing this letter, witnessing something personal that wasn’t meant for anyone else.
We don’t get a lot of stories where a parent is this vulnerable, where they admit they were wrong and actually apologize. That alone made this feel powerful and real.
However, He never even got the chance to say any of this face to face. He never reached out, never had that conversation with his son, and that frustrated me. Because at the end of the day, he chose not to. He had time, and instead he made excuses and I hated that.
I think I’m reading Isaac’s Song next because I really want to read the story from the son’s perspective.