A quick, helpful and soulful read for same-sex couples looking to navigate the treacherous but rewarding surrogacy journey.
A common-sense, spiritual primer for prospective same-sex parents.
Equal parts memoir and how-to manual, this approachable book demystifies the complex topic of surrogacy—one that’s particularly fraught with pitfalls for would-be same-sex parents. Throughout, Warner does an admirable job of guiding the reader through the various steps involved in the same-sex surrogacy journey, covering everything from lining up a surrogate to navigating the legal quagmire of second-parent adoption. Each state has its own, often idiosyncratic, laws and regulations, so the author strongly encourages the reader to speak with a lawyer who specializes in same-sex surrogacy before beginning the process. To that end, he includes a section, penned by attorney Richard Vaughn of the International Fertility Law Group, devoted to the various challenges faced by same-sex parents seeking surrogacy as a possibility. Warner’s spirituality informs much of the book; he and his partner, deMarco, met their surrogate, Mary, at the Unity church in Houston, Texas, where they helped run a youth program. This spirituality grounds the book; Warner credits it for the moments of serendipity that coalesced into the “Divine providence” of his surrogacy experience. Overall, he does an excellent job of guiding the reader through the process. However, the book might have benefited from a deeper examination of Warner and deMarco’s motivations for pursuing surrogacy in the first place, as opposed to adoption. Although the book explores their decision to trade their Jeep Wrangler for a Volkswagen Routan in depth, it doesn’t explain why it was important that each father fertilize an embryo, other than to say that only one would have been “just as important, but…different.”
A quick, helpful and soulful read for same-sex couples looking to navigate the treacherous but rewarding surrogacy journey.Pub Date: Dec. 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-0615895628
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Zygote Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 26, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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