Cutoffs: How Family Members Who Sever Relationships Can Reconnect

Rating:
Summary: take a pass
Review: Estrangements are common and a compelling problem and few books or articles seriously address the issue. I bought Netzer's book hoping to find a realistic road map for both healing estrangements--and living with them when there is no alternative. She seems so hell bent on getting people back in contact at all costs that she fails to recognize that there are sometimes legitimate reasons not to close those gaps. She doesn't seem to realize--or perhaps thinks it impossible--that sometimes estrangement IS the well-adjusted, healthy choice. The "case studies" are simplistic and unrealistic; overall, I found the book very disappointing. Don't bother. Check out, instead, "The Forgiving Self," by Robert Karen--which does a somewhat better job addressing the topic.