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A review by madi_mairee
Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children's Home Society by Judy Christie, Lisa Wingate
2.0
I received an ARC of this book via @netgalley. Thank you for that.
I was interested in this book once I saw it dealt with the same subject matter as Before We Were Yours, Before We Were Yours absolutely wrecked me in all of the best ways and left me thinking about it weeks later. So when I saw this was real life stories of children who went through Georgia Tann's system I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, I think I had too high of expectations.
I found this book to be lacking emotion. This is a highly sensitive subject matter and I was expecting to need to grab the tissues. So it was surprising to me that I couldn't connect with any of the people in this book. It felt like we were kept at a distance, I was seeing them from afar rather than really getting to know their stories. Part of this might be the amount of stories being told. Rather than focusing on a select few, we are introduced to a multitude of families effected by Tann. To me this wasn't a smart choice. I understand thousands went through those doors, but by introducing so many people we only get a teaser to their story. I wanted so much more!
The only redeeming quality for me here was getting a glimpse into my own family. My mother found out she was adopted and had step siblings in her thirties. So I was able to connect with some of the children that were interviewed here as well as understand my mother a bit more. If you had family members that were adopted, I think you might enjoy this book. But otherwise, I would probably pass.
I was interested in this book once I saw it dealt with the same subject matter as Before We Were Yours, Before We Were Yours absolutely wrecked me in all of the best ways and left me thinking about it weeks later. So when I saw this was real life stories of children who went through Georgia Tann's system I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, I think I had too high of expectations.
I found this book to be lacking emotion. This is a highly sensitive subject matter and I was expecting to need to grab the tissues. So it was surprising to me that I couldn't connect with any of the people in this book. It felt like we were kept at a distance, I was seeing them from afar rather than really getting to know their stories. Part of this might be the amount of stories being told. Rather than focusing on a select few, we are introduced to a multitude of families effected by Tann. To me this wasn't a smart choice. I understand thousands went through those doors, but by introducing so many people we only get a teaser to their story. I wanted so much more!
The only redeeming quality for me here was getting a glimpse into my own family. My mother found out she was adopted and had step siblings in her thirties. So I was able to connect with some of the children that were interviewed here as well as understand my mother a bit more. If you had family members that were adopted, I think you might enjoy this book. But otherwise, I would probably pass.