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eveak's review
4.0
I heard Scott Simon talk about this book on NPR after its publication and really enjoyed the conversation and his reflections on adoption and parenting. I liked the reflections - articulated in the book and in the interview - on what it means to be a parent and to build a family. One of the things that the narratives reflect is that parenting isn't easy ... and that the decisions related to choosing to be a parent also aren't easy ... and he did it in a tone that I found more thought provoking than some of the other things that I've read/heard. The vignettes that reflect other people's experiences with adoption are interesting - for the most part they have connections to well known people which I think I would find problematic if it was all the same story repeated but they aren't - they are unique stories each with their own successes/failures/tragedies. One thing that I regret is that with the NC couple we end up finding out about his whole accidental parent search while we learn nothing about hers.
irishtraveller's review
4.0
I was looking to read a story of adoption more than a scholarly analysis of the process, and Scott Simon delivered. This is a poignant, moving account of Simon and Caroline's journey to become parents through the miracle of adoption. With anecdotes about their Chinese daughters Elise and Lina interspersed with stories of adopted adults, this satisfied the craving.
beththebookdragon's review
4.0
Warm and humorous if rambling memoir about one of my beloved NPR radio hosts and his wife adopting two girls from China.
I'm a bit put off by the highly non-chronological order, but it's still an engaging and very real book of the joys and challenges (paperwork! intrusive questions and clearances! more paperwork!) of adoption and parenthood.
Simon intersperses his own family's story with the stories of friends and acquaintances who are adopted or have adopted children, usually touching on the effect on all parts of the adoption triad: birthparents, adoptive parents, and adopted child
This is a heartening book for people like me still going through the long pre-child adoption process, and a great introduction way for non-adoptive people to understand the physical and emotional details of adoption.
I confess I'm getting all mushy, even over the spitting-up stories. And reading some of the humorous moments to my husband.
I'm a bit put off by the highly non-chronological order, but it's still an engaging and very real book of the joys and challenges (paperwork! intrusive questions and clearances! more paperwork!) of adoption and parenthood.
Simon intersperses his own family's story with the stories of friends and acquaintances who are adopted or have adopted children, usually touching on the effect on all parts of the adoption triad: birthparents, adoptive parents, and adopted child
This is a heartening book for people like me still going through the long pre-child adoption process, and a great introduction way for non-adoptive people to understand the physical and emotional details of adoption.
I confess I'm getting all mushy, even over the spitting-up stories. And reading some of the humorous moments to my husband.
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