A review by lucysmom828
Palimpsest: Documents from a Korean Adoption by Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom

5.0

So often in adoptions the focus is on the newly created family unit, and the first families are forgotten (or entirely ignored). Lisa talks about her journey coping with being adopted and trying to find her natural parents. This graphic memoir takes an honest look at international adoptions, describing how it is a form of child trade and how manipulation and lies are involved in each case. When trying to learn about their natural parents and where they came from, adoptees encounter falsified documents and gas-lighting by those who run the organizations (if they're even able to get a response). You experience this firsthand as Lisa takes you along with her on a journey to find her natural parents. It's heart-wrenching to witness everything that she has gone through, but it is so important to shed a light on what so many individuals are up against. This is necessary reading for everyone, but especially those who are likely to ask about someone's family history (such as medical professionals). We need to know what these individuals are facing and how to appropriately address it.