A forthright, insightful, and empowering account of a difficult journey.
A birth mother recounts each stage of the adoption process in this debut memoir.
Baker was 21 years old when she discovered that she was pregnant. The conception of her son was a “college, one-time thing,” and the father’s first reaction to the news was that she should get an abortion. The author was also told by her mom that she “wouldn’t be a good mother.” Deciding against a late-term abortion, Baker began scouring adoption books for prospective parents—finally finding the “holy grail” of an adoptive parent living in California. The author recalls how she briefly relocated from Minnesota to Hollywood to live with her “son’s mother” during her pregnancy. She details the complexities of parting with her son after the birth and the subsequent feelings of loneliness and mourning that led her to alcohol and drug abuse. The uplifting book goes on to examine how Baker rebuilt her life with the intention of demonstrating that “open adoptions can be successful, even if they’re messy at times.” The most striking aspect of Baker’s writing is her directness. Not one to mince words, she writes of the adoption process: “Let me tell you, I was fucking broken. Over and over again, a little more every day.” She also outlines her actions with a selfless clarity: “I knew it was the right decision for my son’s life at the time, even if it didn’t feel best for mine. I did it for him.” The author’s frankness makes for powerful, engaging prose, particularly when she speaks directly to readers: “This shit hurts. Let it. Slowly, you can start to let light in little by little.” This characteristically blunt conversational style occasionally lacks descriptive flair: “The only way I can describe that time was that it was an utter shit show.” But this is more than compensated for by Baker’s contagious, positive attitude that encourages birth mothers to seek self-acceptance and stop perceiving themselves as “irrevocably broken” by stating boldly: “I’m still broken, but I see those cracks as opportunities.” Other books of this type tell of similar odysseys, but few exhibit the lucidity and conviction found here.
A forthright, insightful, and empowering account of a difficult journey.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5445-0486-5
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
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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