A charming, relatable memoir on adoption, love, and identity.
After discovering that she was adopted, debut author Duren set out to find her birth mother and uncover her biological roots.
From a very young age, the author suspected that she might not be biologically related to her immediate family members. She looked different from them, for one thing, and often found herself emotionally isolated from her mother and brother. She occasionally asked her parents if she was adopted and they always waved off the question—until one day, her father simply admitted that she was. She was 15 at the time, and from that day forward, she was committed to finding her biological mother. She chronicles her long journey in a story involving decades-old records, helpful friends, unsupportive family members, old yearbooks, two private detectives, multiple phone calls with people who knew more than they admitted, and years of patient waiting. Along the way, Duren reveals bits and pieces of her own personal life, which included three marriages, four children, a brief time living in Germany, a successful career as a photographer, and a lifelong love of theater. In her quest, she encountered encouragement and discouragement from various parties, ultimately building her own support system, comprised of friends who loved her and were equally invested in her search. Duren writes somberly about serious events in her life (her adoptive parents’ aging, the slow pain of waiting for news, chasing dead ends), but her quirky sense of humor emerges throughout her memoir as she muses on her own insecurities and fantasies. She jokes about imaginary best-case and worst-case scenarios, writes silly captions for photographs (such as one that compares her haircut and her son’s), and recounts her childhood memories with fondness and amusement. In writing this delightful memoir, Duren ultimately explores the difference between the family we’re given and the family we choose. Readers will be left feeling satisfied by the hopeful ending to her search.
A charming, relatable memoir on adoption, love, and identity.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9982794-2-8
Page Count: 178
Publisher: Word Hermit Press LLC
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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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