Letters to My Daughters

Written by:
Mary Matalin
Narrated by:
Mary Matalin

Abridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
8
Narrator
Release Date
April 2004
Duration
4 hours 30 minutes
Summary
In Letters to My Daughters, famed political consultant and TV personality Mary Matalin shares the moral, ethical, and occasionally comic life lessons gleaned from her mother's experiences and her own. These intimate, personal letters range from the spiritual to the practical, from giving life to accepting death, from civic to personal responsibility, from looking and feeling good to dealing with those pesky boys, and more.
Here's a sampling of the mother wisdom found in these pages:

Crying is not a weakness; it's cathartic and cleansing. People who live life with the fullest commitment tend to cry a lot. It's a healthy expression of deep emotions. I don't like or trust people who don't or can't cry.
When I tell you I understand what you're going through, it's not just because I remember what it felt like to be a teenage girl whose body is being hijacked by hormones against her will. It's because I'm a fifty-something whose body is being hijacked by hormones against her will at this very moment. And if you don't believe me, just ask your father.
I believe in my heart of hearts that a life without faith is unanchored and unfulfilling. Without it, you're just wandering in the desert. You experience deeply that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- and the singing is damn good.
Ma had a complex philosophy of sex, which I heard almost every day from age ten. 'Boys would screw a snake if it would lay still long enough.' Let's flash forward forty years and allow your mother to give you a twenty-first-century take on boys and S-E-X: 'Boys would screw a snake if it would lay still long enough.'...And the men in Washington think that's a compliment.
A deep sense of loyalty can help you overcome almost any bump in the road. The disloyal may advantage themselves in some work situations, but their gains will be temporary, fleeting. They will fail their institutions, their colleagues, and worst of all, themselves.

Filled with warmth, common sense, a belief in the values that keep families strong, and her trademark sense of humor, Mary Matalin's letters will inspire, guide, entertain, and inform. They're the perfect companion for any mother looking for a smart, sensible fellow traveler on the road to raising good daughters.
Reviews
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Tami

I thought this book was quite entertaining and good advice to keep in mind. It has some important reminders of things we want to instill in our children.

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Gem SPECTOR

Who knows whether this is good advice or not? Its so trite that the listener tunes it out, much as you can imagine a teenage daughter doing and saying: "Oh gag-a-maggot Mother, not that again!" Apparently the broad-brush style of the political columnist doesn't lend itself easily to the intimate voice required to engagingly write a book on this topic. Sorely lacking are such qualities as irony, humor, and self-deprecation which can make an advice book a pleasure to read, rather than more like eating your carrots.

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DLCT

First of all, whoever decided that the author's voice was something anyone would want to (or even be able to) listen to for several hours should be fired. A grating, annoyingly accented narration only detracts from the messages that are sometimes touching and sometimes just old-fashioned cliches. I didn't finish this selection -- it was too tough to listen to. Matalin needs a voice coach if she plans to narrate any more of these. New Yorkers (or where ever she hails from) may not mind the accent, but this West Coaster found it harsh and VERY unlistenable. Take a pass.

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