I've actually made it through 2 books recently...well, ok, it's taken me a few months. Anyway, they're both about experiences of Chinese adoption and both are awesome. They are both written by journalists so their descriptions of the journeys, the details, the process, the country, the political situation, etc. are amazing , eye-opening, and thought provoking.
The first, China Ghosts by Jeff Gammage, was interesting to me because it was written from the perspective of a father. Most books I've read have been written by women, so this was definitely a nice change of pace. Their daughter was about 2 when they adopted her. When they first were united with her, they discovered a large gash on her head which no one could account for, no matter how much they tried to find out what happened. For a while, they even thought she might have brain damage. He describes so well his feelings of uncertainty, anguish, anger, and worry. His daughter turned out fine and they even adopted another little girl a few years later, but it was a great read. The next book, by Karin Evans, The Lost Daughters of China, goes into more detail I think about her pre-adoption journey, the wait, and the details within China and the political and social situation. Also a great read...and they also adopted a second time.
I read another book as well, Forever Lily (I forget the author's name) which was a little crazy for me...she had these weird dream sequences in which she came to believe she was a Chinese Empress in a past life and was killed after becoming pregnant by another man....yeah...a little distracting from the real story which would have been really interesting had it not been for the weirdness of the other stuff.
Anyway, I came to realize that all of these books were written by agnostics. I thought this was strange because it seems like a lot of people that adopt internationally, or at all, are Christians seeking to care for the fatherless as mentioned Biblically. So, where are all the books from a Christian perspective? I'm on the hunt now for a change of pace. Our faith is a huge factor in this process and in our decision to adopt so I'm curious to hear some other similar stories.
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I like your book reviews...especially the one you didn't like. ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's just my computer, but I think the color of your post time and comments on your blog is white. I had to run my mouse over it to find the comments. Unless of course you were trying to hide it from me. ;)