Growing Girls

Growing Girls by Jeanne Marie Laskas. I really liked this book. I was reading reviews on Amazon a minute ago and some people had some really horrible things to say about this book. There was one very nasty review of how they felt this book was so insensitive to the Chinese as a race. What I think they missed was that this book focuses on us the moms. And how we feel and the thoughts that go through our heads. I felt like this book was very honest. The parts that disturbed the other reader were related to the feelings expressed by the author regarding her adopted Chinese daughters. I don't know that I would feel very different from the author if I was struggling with the monumental questions of raising children who had been discarded because of their gender and figuring whether I should strive to help them be Chinese, American, both and to what degrees. What you do see is her love for her kids and her struggle with knowing how to do this whole mothering thing without inflicting too much damage on the children we are entrusted with, either through birth or adoption. This book did not make me think so much about adoption as I felt the focus was on us as mothers and the things that are important to us. Like how to have an open relationship with our daughters, how much they should know of the truth of life and what they should be sheltered from, specifically birth, death, and rejection. Although she ties a lot of these themes to adoption and her children's unique experience I was able to relate on many levels. This was a fun read that was a bit slow in the first chapter but then was a fast ride. I really enjoyed the author's voice and her willingness to basically think out loud. The vulnerability was on every page. I like it when I read a autobiographical book and put it down feeling like I would like to have the author as a friend or neighbor. This was a surprise find for me, I picked it up at the library on impulse. But, for you I would suggest going online and reserving it!

(This post is lifted from my original blog, The Mama Chronicles)