Welcome to Litsy!

As an adoptive parent, I felt incredibly seen by this book. As Frankel herself points out, it‘s vanishingly rare to see adoption portrayed in the media as a source of a (complicated, human) joy.

I read this after seeing the recent review by @Brooke_H and it was a fast and interesting read about identical twins who were adopted by different families and only learned of each other as adults. The writing is chronological and told in alternating diary entries (ish) of both women. I found it fascinating.

The long-lost identical twin is a ridiculous unbelievable trope, but it was Elyse and Paula's reality. Separated when just infants and adopted out to different families, the two sisters found each other when one of them wrote to the adoption agency asking for information on her birth mother. The two eventually discovered that they were part of a sketchy psychological nature/nurture study by a doctor at their adoption agency. A fascinating memoir.

This YA book published in 2019 was the subject of today‘s Banned book Club with Ali Velshi on MSNBC. It‘s banned in Tennessee & Indiana. His interview with the author, Robin Benway, was enlightening. Usually his show lands on YouTube within a week or two. @KateReadsYA Have you read this? I plan to now that i am aware of it.

MG: a heartful story about an adopted boy (who‘s fiercely loved by his parents and grandparents), and a one-winged bird he rescues.
#Pantone2024
#ReadAway2024
#Bookspinbingo

As a big fan of Laurie Frankel, my verdict for this one is: good but not great. Frankel always writes about family in a compelling way, but I found her to be more didactic than usual (especially the end). And while I loved the witty writing style, it felt like everyone- adults, kids, etc- had the same voice. It was sort of like Aaron Sorkin (💗) dialogue: clever and snappy but a little too perfect to feel believable.

Alongside This is How it Always Is, this is my second slam dunk read from Frankel. Here, she explodes the concept too many people have of what family “should” be and shows how families can look quite different. It veers dangerously close to sentimentality at the end, but I just loved it and didn‘t want to stop listening.

I loved every character in this book! I felt like I not only had a wonderful reading experience, but that I learned so much about the world of adoption, through the eyes of the birth parents, adoptive parents and the children. By giving the reader multiple timelines as well as allowing us to understand each character, Laurie Frankel really knocks this novel out of the park! Family is truly the center of this story.

My favorite part of this book was the building of this family family because they are all just good people.
Although I respect the track this story took, I found it a bit heavy handed as it made its way to the end. (Also, the input of right-ring extremists frustrate me in my fiction as much as in real life.)