Path

Success

PathCreated with Sketch.

Warning

Path

Error

FREE SHIPPING Every Day With Purchases Of $60 Or More Of Eligible Items. Online Orders Only.
Cokesbury

The Father You Get

And the Ones You Make, Believe In, and Become
  • By Patton Dodd
$26.99
Product Description

In a world of imperfect-at-best and bad-at-worst dads, what is the ideal of fatherhood we aspire to? Why does this ideal exist?

What is it about fathers and father figures that looms so large in the lives of so many? So wonders Patton Dodd in this work of reflection and memoir, in which he wrestles with a dad-sized hole, the gap between the idealized father he yearned to have and the father he got--an often-absent alcoholic who struggled to hold down a job and whose unreliability caused chaos for his family.

This struggle with the father he was given led Dodd to other father figures throughout his life: fathers he created, from an imaginary "Papa Friend" he dreamed up in his childhood, to the male mentors he sought as he grew older. There's also the father he believed in, the Christian God, often conceptualized as the heavenly Father, and who led Dodd to the steadfast, faithful love of his earthly mother. And finally, there is the father Dodd became when he had his own children, an experience that led him back to the source and the mystery of his own dad. Throughout, Dodd's story resonates for those with their own dad-sized gaps, their own father wounds: those who struggle with the fathers they got, the fathers they wish they had, the fathers they hope to be.

A lyrical, emotional meditation on the failures and glories of dadhood and manhood alike, The Father You Get is ultimately an extended wrestling with the mysteries of a distant parental figure. Dodd ultimately asks if there is any way to bridge the gap between the fathers we get and the fathers our hearts yearn for.

free shipping iconEligible For Free Shipping
Pre-Order This Title Order now, item will be available on 9/23/2025. Ships from a Cokesbury Connect Partner.
  • Additional Details
  • Kit components
    The following items and their quantities are included in the kit product: The Father You Get

    Quantity Included ItemFormatSKUIndividual Price
  • Additional Details
    Product Specs
    • SKU: 9781506486987
    • Manufacturer: BROADLEAF BOOKS
    • ISBN 13: 9781506486987
    • Publication Date: 09/23/2025
    • Format: Hardcover
    • Author: Patton Dodd

     
    Shipping & Returns
    This item is available for return. At Cokesbury, we offer various expedited shipping methods for an additional charge during checkout. However, products with long lead times and those shipped from a Cokesbury Connect Partner are not eligible for expedited shipping. If you select expedited shipping at checkout and your order includes items that cannot be expedited, you will receive a notice explaining that not all items are eligible.