Review 140: The Milkman's Son

The Milkman's Son: A Memoir of Family History, a DNA Mystery, and a Story of Paternal Love by Randy Lindsay
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars


The writing style in the book was conversational, informal, like you were sitting down with the author and he was telling you his story. This is Randy Lindsay’s story of how he found out, late in life, that the man who raised him wasn’t his biological dad. With more people taking DNA tests alongside genealogy research, more situations like this are being discovered. Families are more complex than we thought. In the past unmarried women were socially frowned upon so strongly that secrets about parentage of their children was more important than the truth. That seems to be the case here, as Lindsay’s mother refused to talk about how his dad wasn’t his biological dad.

While reading the book it comes up often that Lindsay was teased by his younger siblings as being the “Milkman’s son” since he didn’t resemble any of them. Lindsay’s way of expressing emotions and dealing with life was also different. When he discovered by DNA that he was only a half-sibling it started to make sense. Much of the book is about discovering who this other family is and their connection.

I found the writing style enjoyable, and it kept me reading, but some details included in the book were odd choices. There was a huge focus on food, which is okay I guess, since food and family often go together. There were odd financial decisions, as well as Lindsay’s wife, as a very minor character in the book. Having his wife so sidelined seemed odd to me. Parts of the book seemed amateurish, but other areas were engaging.

I found the premise behind the book to be one of those surprising things about life, how more connected to each other we are than we actually know. For the author and the emotional journey, this probably was a difficult book to write. In the end, I’m glad to have read the book and happy he shared his story with us as readers.


Book rating: 3.5 stars, rounded up

Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for an uncorrected advanced electronic review copy of this book.