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A review by maurakeaney
Paper Chains by Elaine Vickers
3.0
Paper Chains is one of the few middle grade or YA books I've read that addresses the complex feelings of adoption loss in a way that honors the adoptee's natural curiosity about and connection to her first family while acknowledging the emotional weight the adoptee feels obliged to carry in avoiding alienating or hurting her adoptive parents. This storyline was handled beautifully, with sensitivity and insight.
I think the storyline of having two best friends alienated by the secrets they keep from each other rang true and is relatable to so many middle grade readers, and a character trying to hold her family together with after a parent leaving is also realistic and relatable.
But the author lost me by adding SO many more dramatic and unrealistic conflicts to each character's story. So Ana not only faces her mother's depression and her father's abandonment, but also has a parent who is an international hockey star and has to deal with the sudden arrival of a live-in grandmother from another country and culture. Katie doesn't just struggle with her complex feelings of curiosity and guilt about her first family and adoptive family, but also must navigate life after a heart transplant. (!) Oh, and lets's add in a show-stealing little brother with a medical crisis. Oh, and a mystery box of mementos in an attic. And mysteriously matching antique pocket watches.
It was too much going on at once. Pick one challenge for each main character. But this many all together just created a hodgepodge of mini-conflicts, none of which were completely or meaningfully resolved by the end...there was just too much.
I think the storyline of having two best friends alienated by the secrets they keep from each other rang true and is relatable to so many middle grade readers, and a character trying to hold her family together with after a parent leaving is also realistic and relatable.
But the author lost me by adding SO many more dramatic and unrealistic conflicts to each character's story. So Ana not only faces her mother's depression and her father's abandonment, but also has a parent who is an international hockey star and has to deal with the sudden arrival of a live-in grandmother from another country and culture. Katie doesn't just struggle with her complex feelings of curiosity and guilt about her first family and adoptive family, but also must navigate life after a heart transplant. (!) Oh, and lets's add in a show-stealing little brother with a medical crisis. Oh, and a mystery box of mementos in an attic. And mysteriously matching antique pocket watches.
It was too much going on at once. Pick one challenge for each main character. But this many all together just created a hodgepodge of mini-conflicts, none of which were completely or meaningfully resolved by the end...there was just too much.