Divorce, Custody, and Beyond...
by Wesley Thompson, Lynn Thompson (Editor)
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This book was a problem for us to have reviewed. We went through 3 male reviewers (non-custodial parents who don't, or are struggling to, see their children) who just could not handle this powerful book all at once. A female member read the book and produced her thoughts about the book (below).
This is the powerful tale of the divorce of a husband from a psychologically disturbed wife -- with two young sons. Even when the psychologist-assessor recommends that he has custody for the children from the overwhelming evidence of the instability and personality of the mother, the courts decide to ignore the recommendations and she gets custody. The rest of the story deals with the animosity and the destruction of the strong and healthy relationship with their father as Parental Alienation Syndrome is induced in the children and they enter the pathological relationship with the alienating parent, as is characteristic of PAS.
It is a powerful, emotional book.
Our reviewer's comments were as follows:
I found the book very interesting -- it left with with the conviction that there isn't a hope in heck of men getting custody of their children. Even when a psychologist assesses the family and believes that the children would be better off with their father, the courts do things differently.
I also felt completely frustrated with the "justice" system, and how one spouse played it for all it is worth. In the process, she cared little for the lives of their children or that of the man who completely and unconditionally loved those children.
Over the years, the constant pressure of the parental alienation took its toll, and eventually the children succumbed -- so mother "won" and everyone else was destroyed. Children are not pawns in the game of life -- children are our future and the should not permit this type of situation to happen. However, it is quite clear that women like this will continue to play the system until there is some force that will fight the children.
This book was hard to read due to its tremendously sad story, but it was a really good book.
L.
