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A review by panda_incognito
Palimpsest: Documents from a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom
5.0
This heart-rending graphic novel shares the author's story about her struggle for identity as a Korean adoptee in Sweden, and the challenges that she faced as she tried to uncover the truth about her background and find her birth mother. The simple, sepia-toned illustrations and text support each other well, and the graphic novel format helps to convey the author's depth of emotion. I really appreciated this, and am glad that I had the chance to read it.
This book shows how many hoops she and her partner had to jump through to get information about her past, and exposes the truth about child trafficking within international adoptions. It is incredible how many layers of secrets and lies she had to deal with through the organizations that were supposed to be helping her, and I would definitely recommend this to adoptees with similar backgrounds, and to parents who are considering adoption and need to be aware of the ethical issues associated with international adoption and be prepared to vet the agencies that they work with.
This book is similar, in many ways, to Nicole Chung's memoir, [b:All You Can Ever Know|30297153|All You Can Ever Know|Nicole Chung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519748414l/30297153._SY75_.jpg|50777526], but they also have significant differences in terms of the author's cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and discoveries about their families of origin. I would recommend both of these books to anyone who is interested in international adoption, and hope that as the conversation shifts from only elevating the voices of adoptive parents, more and more adoptees will be able to write publicly about their experiences.
This book shows how many hoops she and her partner had to jump through to get information about her past, and exposes the truth about child trafficking within international adoptions. It is incredible how many layers of secrets and lies she had to deal with through the organizations that were supposed to be helping her, and I would definitely recommend this to adoptees with similar backgrounds, and to parents who are considering adoption and need to be aware of the ethical issues associated with international adoption and be prepared to vet the agencies that they work with.
This book is similar, in many ways, to Nicole Chung's memoir, [b:All You Can Ever Know|30297153|All You Can Ever Know|Nicole Chung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519748414l/30297153._SY75_.jpg|50777526], but they also have significant differences in terms of the author's cultural backgrounds, life experiences, and discoveries about their families of origin. I would recommend both of these books to anyone who is interested in international adoption, and hope that as the conversation shifts from only elevating the voices of adoptive parents, more and more adoptees will be able to write publicly about their experiences.