Rating: 
Summary: A must for any grandmother, mother or daughter
Review: "The years came and went, the children came and left. The worst of getting old is not tiredness and aches and pains, but that time rushes on, so quickly that in the end it doesn't seemto exist. It's Christmas and then it's Easter. It's a clear winter's day and then a hot summer's day. In between is a vacuum." The writing is beautiful, the characters unforgettable, a wonderful generational story. A bit confusing at first, trying to keep track of who's who, but worth the effort. No matter where in the world, this story shows the great opression of women throughout history and their roles as mothers, wives, daughters and granddaughters.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful, warm story
Review: ....about mother-daughter and family relationships passed down thru time. Hanna's/Johanna and Anna's story could be yours and mine, with a different setting. I loved the characters, each one unique in their own way. And I loved the remembrance of who we are and what we pass down through the generations, on the one hand wanting for our daughters, and on the other hand giving them their limitations. I loved the book so much, I am asking my mother to create in writing her family story, I shall do the same for my daughter, and hopefully one day my daughter will piece it all together!
Rating: 
Summary: Confusing
Review: Could not keep track of who's who. Back and forth in time with like names: Hanna, Johanna, Anna etc. Both me and Mom (avid readers) got tired of trying to figure out who's who. Hard to read in bed at night, usually gave up and went to sleep
Rating:
Summary: Hey Stinky
Review: Funny how true the saying "Like mother like daughter" comes to life in this emotional and inspiring novel, Hanna's Daughters, by Marianne Fredriksson. Three generations of women are portrayed through family lives and a changing society. It is fascinating how the grandmother's lifestyle differed from the grandaughter's although still sharing a common thread. Love and loss, becoming strong though sacrifices, yielding to men and the hardships of running a household are constant themes.The novel also focused on the many complexities facing the families. A few examples are abusive and alcoholic fathers and husbands and unfaithful fathers and husbands. I was impressed with the way the author structured the sequencing of stories around each of the women. She used past letters, dreams, and flashbacks to compare and to contrast the duaghter's lives. One that I enjoyed was about Broman and his love for his daughter, Johanna. I was able to parallel it back to Johanna's dream about going to the cave when she was a child. She was not cold because she was able to cuddle with her father. Such connections in the book made me eager to read on to uncover others. Throughout the course of the book similarities between the women's lives began to appear. Hanna's mother, Hanna, Johanna, and her daughter Anna had the emotional bond of child loss. They experienced the heartbreak of children dying in famine, of suicide, abortion and infant death. Another commonality was the struggle of Hanna and Anna as single mothers after the divorce or death of their husbands. Hanna's Daughters was an incredibly moving portrayal of the relationship between mothers and daughters, their love bond and the hardship that goes along with this love. There are the emotions of guilt and heartache that go hand in hand, even in a sometimes twisted and difficult bond that exists between mothers and daughters. Along with these heart wrenching experiences the author demonstrates how fulfilling a relationship between a mother and daughter can be.
Rating: 
Summary: Women's saga
Review: Hanna's Daughters is a tale spanning three generation's of a Swedish family. It is told by Anna, who in a last ditch effort to understand her mother, gathers letter, diaries, and journals to read about her mother and grandmother's life. The story is told through a series of flashbacks with can be disconcerting until you catch the rhythm of the story. The life of the three women revolves around mother-daughter relationships and the path our lives take as a result of the decisions we make. Each woman struggles with similar heartbreaks (although they don't always know what the other one is/has gone through) They struggle with marriage, children, death, and finding ones self worth in a sometimes harsh world. While I enjoyed the story (possibly due to my Swedish heritage!) I still felt the story plodded in some sections so I only gave it a three star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Anna, Hanna and Johanna
Review: Hanna's Daughters was originally published Anna, Hanna and Johanna in Scandinavia. Grandmother, mother, daughter - all three of the women are all of the above, but here, Hanna is the grandmother, Johanna is the mother, and Anna is the daughter. Each woman has her own poignant story in this riveting novel of three generations.
In 1986, ailing Johanna is suffering from Alzheimer's. Her daughter, Anna, watches over her. She reflects on her grandmother, Hanna Bromam.
Hanna's story is filled with perserverance. When she is twelve, she is sent to a farm ruled by a harsh woman. The years at farm are not pleasant, for she is raped and gives birth to a son at thirteen. To save her family name, she is married to a middle-aged miller named John Bromam. They work and raise a family. Relatives are featured in Hanna's life, including her beautiful sister Astrid who lives in Norway. At the turn of the century (1902), Johanna is born.
The book was translated from Swedish, and many sentences in Hanna's story sound stiff and grammatically incorrect. Well, nothing can be translated 100% correctly. Although it can be slow, the dialect in the beginning adds a little flair to the book.
Back in 1986, Anna is going through a difficult time in life because of her husband's infidelity, ironically named Rickard. Johanna's story, 1902-1986, is in first person. I think it is the best section because she gives insight on her thoughts. It talks about her relationship with her mother, her political beliefs, the "Ice Queen," and WWII. Her life is not without tragedy either. This section allows readers to commiserate with Johanna.
The ending... I think the ending could have been written better because I feel the situation between Rickard and Anna is never fully resolved. Maybe that is something left up to the reader.
Hanna's Daughters was very riveting. Fredriksson moves the book along nicely, and I enjoyed the point of view change in Johanna's story. This is a nice U.S. debut for Fredriksson, and I am looking forward to more moving novels.
Rating:
Summary: Hanna, Anna and Johanna
Review: Hanna, Anna and Johanna is the tittle of Hanna's Daughters in its native Swedish, and I wonder why the tittle was changed in the English translation, the original is much more what the book is all about. This book is one of the most moving and wonderful books I have ever read. The story takes me back to my native Finland, Sweden's neighbour, and to the lives of many great grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers that I have known there. Some of them, just like Hanna, had to endure similar hardships in their lives, especially women in the 19th Century if they had a child out of wedlock. It was very shameful. It was considered a sin, and only the woman was blamed. Children out of wedlock were treated as outcasts. People's lives in old Scandinavia used to be heavily ruled by very condemning old religious values that almost all people practiced. It took strong feminists like Anna, and hard workers like Johanna, to change the old ways and beliefs. I also found this book quite entertaining. Marianne Fredrikson wrote this book very compasionately and humorously.
Rating:
Summary: One of the most compelling books I've read in some time.
Review: I am 100% Norwegian so the personality traits of these women are very familiar to me. The secrecy, the modesty, the shame, the need to minimize material wealth, all describe my female ancestors. Sometimes it is difficult to keep track of which relationship is which, because there are so many similarities.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time and money.
Review: I cringed while trying to get through this tedious book. A far better story is Weight of Water. At least the characters seem alive in that one.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed reading it
Review: I don't understand the title. Who else was a daughter beside Johanna
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