Book Review: "Sleeping Giants" by Rene Denfeld

Whenever I read a book by Rene Denfeld, I know that it will be both emotional and thought-provoking. Denfeld’s books often look at the most vulnerable or marginalized in society, and I’ve been a huge fan since her incredible debut, The Enchanted.

Amanda was adopted as a baby, but she had no idea that she had an older brother Dennis, who died years ago. In need of connection to her past, she travels to the remote Oregon town where he drowned when he was nine.

Seeing the memorial the community put up after he was lost to the ocean prompts Amanda to find out what happened to him. She meets Larry, a retired, widowed police officer, who wants to help Amanda find answers.

They find out that Dennis was living in a home for disturbed boys from the time he was four. While the home had at one point been well-regarded, the boys were subjected to a controversial and dangerous form of treatment, and several boys disappeared. The home is now in ruins, and those still around to remember things are fairly reluctant to share any details. And someone will stop at nothing to make sure secrets stay secret.

“They say inchoate memory, formed before language, is the worst of all, because it flies like bats in your bones: you cannot heal from what you cannot voice.”

The book shifts between past and present, following Dennis’ time in the home and Amanda and Larry’s search for information. This book made me cry—definitely check trigger warnings because it packs a powerful punch. But out of the sadness comes hope.

Book Review: "Days of Wonder" by Caroline Leavitt

Ever since I stumbled upon her heartbreaking yet hopeful novel Pictures of You a number of years ago, Caroline Leavitt has been an author whose books I eagerly anticipate. Her books are often quite emotional but never maudlin, and they definitely are thought-provoking.

Ella was raised by Helen, a devoted single mother who always told her daughter it was them against the world. Yet when she met her boyfriend Jude, Ella fell completely—both of them did, in that all-consuming kind of love that often occurs in the teenage years. Jude began spending so much time in their home that Helen considered the three of them a type of family.

One bewildering night, Ella is accused of trying to murder Jude’s father. She was 15 years old and sentenced to 25 years in prison. She doesn’t understand what happened and can’t figure out why Jude hasn’t come to visit her. When she finds out she is pregnant shortly after arriving in prison, she is left with no choice but to give the baby up for adoption.

After serving only six years of her sentence, Ella is released. She knows she has a chance at a fresh start, but at the same time, she can’t let go of her past, and is determined to find her daughter. With only an address to go on, she decides to move to Ann Arbor to just get a glimpse of the girl, but of course, that doesn’t satisfy her.

Ella keeps her true identity and her past a secret from everyone she meets. She doesn’t know whom to trust and lives in a state of constant fear that she’ll be exposed and her secrets will be revealed. And when it happens in the most surprising of ways, both Ella and Helen must find a way forward.

This is a powerful book, one that would be perfect for discussion by a book club. It’s a story of family, sacrifice, love, hope, guilt, secrets, and fear, and in Leavitt’s hands, it’s definitely hard to put down.

Book Review: "Family Family" by Laurie Frankel

“There are infinity different kinds of families. And every member of every one has a different story to tell about it. So the fact that a few stories about adoption are the only ones that ever get told seems like a problem to me.”⁣

⁣ India’s dream was always to be a successful Broadway actress. Thanks to hard work, perseverance, and pretty impressive talent, she achieved her dream, finding success on the stage and on television, which led to the lead role in a movie.⁣

⁣ The movie is about adoption, and as the adoptive mother of fraternal twins, India is excited that this story will be told. But it’s not long before people criticize the film—and India—for what they believe the message of the film is. She’s frustrated by public reaction, so she decides to set the record straight. But she winds up making everything worse—and then some.⁣

⁣ The fact is, there’s much more to India’s life than most people know. As all of her own choices are called into question, others in her life decide to take control of the situation. And so the wild ride begins.⁣

⁣ Laurie Frankel is truly an artist. Her books are so rich in emotion, character development, and their treatment of issues related to love, family, and parenthood. I thought this was incredible, and utterly thought-provoking.⁣

Book Review: "The Heiress" by Rachel Hawkins

Over the last several years, Rachel Hawkins has become an auto-buy author for me. While her last book, The Villa, didn't quite work for me, her newest book is definitely a home run. It’s so twisted and gothic!

In the tiny North Carolina town of Tavistock, Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore was as close to royalty as you could get. She was the state’s richest woman and perhaps one of the most notorious, as she was kidnapped as a very young child, and was married (and widowed) four times. Ruby's family estate, Ashby House, was the envy of both other family members and complete strangers.

When Ruby dies, her entire estate goes to Cam, her adopted son. But after years of living under Ruby’s thumb and dealing with the enmity of relatives who believe they were entitled to the inheritance, Cam leaves the house, money, and family behind, working as a teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a former actress who also escaped her own past.

But 10 years later, the death of Cam’s uncle summons him and Jules back to Ashby House. It’s not long before he is reminded of why he escaped, and dealing with resentful relatives is exhausting. But there are so many secrets hiding amidst the ornate decor and beautiful views, secrets that could change the course of everyone’s lives. Who is keeping which secrets, and how will they use them?

The plot may seem familiar, shifting between past and present, but Hawkins does such a phenomenal job getting you hooked quickly. I seriously couldn’t put this down, and can’t wait for her next book!

Book Review: "Immediate Family" by Ashley Nelson Levy

Ashley Nelson Levy's Immediate Family is a thought-provoking story of family, memory, and the bond between siblings.

The younger brother of an unnamed narrator asks her to give a toast at his wedding. Close while they were growing up despite the six-year difference in age, a rift has come between them in recent years.⁣

As the narrator tries to figure out what she wants to say in her speech she tells the story of their family. Her brother was adopted from Thailand when she was nine and he was three. She talks about traveling their with her parents to Thailand to get him, the stresses and worries they dealt with, and the struggles Danny faced growing up Asian in a white family.

Immediate Family is, in essence, a long letter from the narrator to her brother, chronicling their relationship as they grew older and the frictions their family experienced. But more than that, the letter details secrets she has kept, about the struggles she and her husband have experienced with fertility and the strains that is causing on their marriage.

This is an interesting and emotional story, but because it’s told in the second person, it often feels like you’re viewing it from a distance. There are some interesting narrative choices that the author makes—at times the narrator refers to her husband as “my husband” but at times, when she’s addressing her brother, she says “your brother-in-law.”

The author’s prose is spare and poetic, peppered with literary references and snippets from Danny’s adoption case file. All in all, it’s a unique read that shows how similar and how different each family’s struggles can be.

Book Review: "You Have a Match" by Emma Lord

Emma Lord's upcoming book, You Have a Match, is a cute story about family, identity, friendship, and love.

Abby only agreed to do the DNA test as a show of support for her best friend (and serious crush) Leo, who was adopted. Things between her and Leo have been weird since the BEI (Big Embarrassing Incident) occurred between them.

The last thing Abby is expecting to discover from the DNA test is that she has an older sister. Wait, what? And it turns out her sister is Savvy—Savannah Tully, Instagram influencer and all-around perfectionist, and she’s only 18 months older than Abby.

Neither know what would have led to her parents putting Savvy up for adoption. But instead of asking their parents outright, they decide to go to summer camp together (Savvy was already planning to be a counselor there) and figure out a scheme to uncover the truth. Of course, agreeing to go to camp with someone you barely know isn’t the smartest idea, especially when that person turns out to be a rule-follower and a narc.

To complicate matters further, this is the same camp Leo goes to. (The camp changed its name, so Abby had no idea it was the same camp.) Suddenly Abby has to decide whether to confront her feelings for him head-on, or just let them remain a secret. But secrets have a way of making everything else complicated, too...

I thought You Have a Match was cute, but honestly, nearly the entire story was people avoiding discussing the things that bothered, worried, or frustrated them, and not asking the questions that would solve everything. I get that it happens in real life but it dragged on in every aspect of the story and it just didn’t work for me. There’s so much running away, holding grudges, lying...I’m all for drama and angst but okay.

I loved Lord’s first book, Tweet Cute, so maybe I was just cranky?

NetGalley and Wednesday Books provided an advance copy of You Have a Match in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

The book publishes 1/12/2021.

Book Review: "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway

This book...

Robin Benway's Far from the Tree recently won the National Book Award. It's a beautiful, thought-provoking tearjerker of a book, a meditation about family and its different forms, as well as the fears we don't share with those we love, and how what we don't say is often more of a roadblock than the things we do.

At times this book had me like:

While at other times it had me like:

Grace is an only child, although she's always known that she was adopted. But shortly after she gives birth to her own daughter while she's still in high school, and gives the baby up for adoption, she decides that it's time to start looking for her biological mother. She more than surprised to find out from her parents that Grace had two biological siblings—an older brother, Joaquin, and a younger sister, Maya, whom she never knew existed.

Maya is tremendously outspoken about everything, perhaps because she's the lone brunette in a house full of redheads. Her adopted parents' marriage is floundering, her mother has a drinking problem, and she's always felt the outsider in her family, since her younger sister was born shortly after her parents adopted her. She's not sure what she hopes to find in her biological siblings, but she hopes it brings her security.

While Grace and Maya were adopted as babies, Joaquin has spent his life in and out of foster families. Even the times he let his guard and his heart down, he ultimately was disappointed and hurt, so he's determined not to let that happen again, even when the situation looks promising. More than anything, he's afraid that he believes he can hurt the people who care about him, so he's afraid to let anyone get too close, even Grace and Maya.

Each of the siblings has their emotional wounds and their secrets, which poses challenges for their relationship but also demonstrates just how much they have in common. Beyond their mutual love of eating their French fries with mayonnaise, and their similar physical characteristics, the three share the fear of telling the people they care about the truth, about letting them see all of their problems, which has resulted in friction with others in their lives. But little by little, they let their walls down with one another and try to help each other face those fears—which is far easier said than done.

"Maya wondered if it would ever be like this with Grace and Joaquin, the ability to just sit quietly side by side, content in the knowledge that no matter what happened with your parents, or your girlfriend, that your siblings will still be there, like a bookend that keeps you upright when you feel like toppling over."

There is a lot of emotional upheaval in this book, as the siblings deal with their own issues as well as search for their biological mother. I enjoyed this book quite a bit, but I'll admit I found their inability to verbalize the things they were afraid of/angry about tremendously frustrating. I know this was a realistic depiction of how people, particularly teenagers, often handle their problems, but to have it be the case with three people at the same time was a bit bothersome.

Beyond wanting to shake the characters so they'd finally say what needed to be said, I really enjoyed this book and was tremendously moved by it. It was a very real reminder about the fears and anxieties adopted children and children in the foster care system face, and it also demonstrated how feeling like you belong for the first time can truly make a difference.

This is a really well-written book. Benway had an ear for dialogue that was on-target for teenagers without making them sound so much wiser and more sarcastic than their years. I'm always a big fan of books which make me feel while they make me think, which is why I definitely recommend Far from the Tree.