The subtitle of this book, by the host of National Public Radio's Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, is "In Praise of Adoption." Unable to conceive a child by "natural" methods, the author and his wife decide to try foreign adoption. This is the story of the process they went through while adopting two daughters from China. It is also the story of other people he knows who have been adopted, as well as his thoughts on the adoption process and what constitutes "family."
Despite its subtitle, Simon does not always present the good side of adoption. Several of his stories are sad stories of adoptions gone wrong. And not everything is peaches and cream in his own life. Do his daughters misbehave out of some sense of abandonment? Or is it just normal childish misbehavior?
I have had a crush on Scott Simon for more years than I can count. It's a little hard to have a crush on someone that you only know by his voice but I have managed to do it - listening religiously every Saturday morning to his account of the week's news or the latest-breaking headlines. So I am probably not entirely neutral when I say that I enjoyed his insights into the adoption process and thought this book was a thoughtful look at the joys (and some sorrows) or adoption. It can be a quick read - or a book to pick up again and again for thought-provoking comments.
No comments:
Post a Comment