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A review by anautummbison
The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church, Meagan Church
Did not finish book.
I made it through part one, but the book is so bad I couldn't stand to keep reading. If you want to learn what actually happened without Roe v Wade, read something else.
What drew me to the book is my experience as a birthmother. I was coerced into relinquishing my son for adoption against my will as a teenager, so education and advocacy related to vulnerable families in crisis and adoption are very important to me.
I was immediately uncomfortable that th book lifted its title from The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler, a book that tells what actually happened during the baby scoop era using facts. I immediately worried people would be looking for nonfiction and stumble upon this fictional novel instead, once again drowning out the voices of those who actually lost their children during the baby scoop era.
This book is boring cliche after boring cliche. Every chapter ends with a ridiculously heavy handed reference to the fact that the main character, Lorraine, will soon be or already is pregnant. It's juvenile and exhausting. I don't like books that throw the entire point of the book in your face constantly like that as though it's clever.
You would be better off reading a nonfiction book about the baby scoop era or a memoir by a mother who lost her child this way. American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser and Relinquished by Gretchen Sisson are other great books on the subject.
What drew me to the book is my experience as a birthmother. I was coerced into relinquishing my son for adoption against my will as a teenager, so education and advocacy related to vulnerable families in crisis and adoption are very important to me.
I was immediately uncomfortable that th book lifted its title from The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler, a book that tells what actually happened during the baby scoop era using facts. I immediately worried people would be looking for nonfiction and stumble upon this fictional novel instead, once again drowning out the voices of those who actually lost their children during the baby scoop era.
This book is boring cliche after boring cliche. Every chapter ends with a ridiculously heavy handed reference to the fact that the main character, Lorraine, will soon be or already is pregnant. It's juvenile and exhausting. I don't like books that throw the entire point of the book in your face constantly like that as though it's clever.
You would be better off reading a nonfiction book about the baby scoop era or a memoir by a mother who lost her child this way. American Baby by Gabrielle Glaser and Relinquished by Gretchen Sisson are other great books on the subject.