Book Review: The Milkman's Son by Randy Lindsay

Book Description: 

Raised in a family he bore little resemblance to, Randy was jokingly referred to as the "milkman's son." This warm and candid memoir chronicles the unraveling of a family secret, which begins with Randy's dad having dreams about deceased relatives urging him to complete their family tree. Randy agrees to help with the genealogy, but after his searching leads to a dead end, he takes a commercially available DNA test. The results reveal a possible genetic match to a sister, which begins a familial quest that forever changes the author's life.
Featuring a cast of vivid characters richly drawn from two distinct families, The Milkman's Son reveals one man's family tree, pulling back layers of new information as he gets closer to the truth--a biological father, siblings, and family members he never knew.This is a story of accepting, forgiving, and reuniting. Most importantly, it's about the bonds that connect us and the unconditional love that makes us feel like we belong.

Rorie's Review: 

Being a memoir, this story is definitely not fast- paced and full of action, so it was easy for me to put the book down and come back to it a few days later.

I can't even imagine what it would be like to suddenly find out you've got an entire family that you never knew about. I can't help but wonder what kind of turmoil that would put me through... and my family too! I was really surprised at the reaction from the author's family - both of them, actually. Being overly curious as I am, I was wishing that the author would have gone into his mother's story - but at the same time, I can understand why he didn't go that way. I really loved how accepting and welcoming his newfound family was though.

The story kind of dragged on in parts - I think I could have done without quite so much internal dialogue - but I really enjoyed the interactions with both of his families.

Andrea's Review:

I haven’t gotten the genealogy bug yet, but a few years ago I took my kids to the family history library in Salt Lake City, Utah, and it was fun going through the stations and seeing the map light up with where our ancestors came from. The Christmas after that my husband and I gave my parents DNA kits from Ancestry.com. I was exited to see their results, but it didn’t bring up any surprises since a lot of their family history has been done. I suppose it was just additional confirmation to what we already knew. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have a result like the author’s though. It really would be a blow to have everything you knew about your family and your genealogy turned on its head. 

The Milkman’s Son wasn’t a fast read for me. I could read several chapters and then put it down for days before coming back to it. Parts were quite interesting and other parts didn’t hold my attention nearly as well. I don’t read a lot of memoirs, but from what I’m familiar with, that’s par for the course. 

I was happy about the reaction Randy’s family had to the news. It could have gone so differently, and it was nice to have a happy ending. 

Most things were wrapped up well, but I finished very curious about Randy’s mom. He had a note at the beginning saying that this wasn’t her story and it was about him and his two dads. I can appreciate him not sharing her story, but it felt like a chunk was missing and was presented like he never found out those details. That would drive me nuts, and I hope he did learn about it.  

Title: The Milkman's Son 

Author: Randy Lindsay

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Published: March 2020

ISBN: 1629727385

Source: Advanced reader copy from the publisher. All opinions expressed are our own.

Purchase: Amazon Deseret Book