This one won a National Book Award. I don't really have a problem with the big awards, but winning the National is a bit like winning an Oscar. . . they don't tend to select happy comedic romps. I knew that I was in for it before I even opened to the first page. My biggest worry was that there was going to be some awful tragic death in there that feels contrived on reflection. I hate that, it feels emotionally manipulative.
Luckily, there are no emotionally manipulative deaths in this book.
That being said, I started crying somewhere around page 50 and didn't really stop until I hit the last page. It's an emotional read about three teens who discover that they are biological siblings. The two girls, Grace and Maya, were adopted into families as babies. Joaquin, the oldest, ended up bounced around the foster system.
The action starts with Grace, who got pregnant and gave up her baby girl for adoption. She's a high school junior and she always knew she was adopted herself. Having her own baby and mourning her loss makes Grace yearn to connect with her own bio-mom. It is at that point that she finds out about Maya and Joaquin.
Maya's adoptive mom, Diane, found out she was pregnant three months after the adoption. As a result, Maya has a sister named Lauren. Maya is the brunette in a family of redheads - obviously and visually marked as different. It is a thing that Maya can't avoid seeing but it's not the biggest problem in her life at the moment. The relationship between her adoptive parents is falling about.
Joaquin's bounced from family to family growing up in a system were there is little that he can rely on. For the most part, the families have been fine but it's still not like having a family of his own. 17 years is a long time to navigate the world with out the foundation of a family. His newest family, Mark and Linda, care for him, he knows that, but it'll end eventually - it's inevitable he thinks.
The three siblings meet and find that they aren't ok, not really. Their relationship with each other illuminates the walls they've built for themselves around being given up.
I'm not sure why it hit me so far. Maybe it's the number of adopted students I've taught over the years. Maybe it's just a really good book. Benway did an excellent job of examining and narrating the story of these three kids. Adoption is such a difficult topic to really discuss. It's hard for the kids and it's hard for the adopting parents, but unless you are living in it, I don't think we can really understand it from the outside. I don't know if this book is accurate, but I think it is a wonderful thought-provoking read.
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