A Bridge Less Traveled, Twice Visited [Paperback]

Robert Andersen (Author), Rhonda Tucker (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Badger Hill Press (April 6, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963264885
• ISBN-13: 978-0963264886
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,506,538 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, September 3, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Bridge Less Traveled, Twice Visited (Paperback)

This is another excellent though difficult book on the subject of adoption, like Robert Andersen's other title Second Choice: Growing up Adopted. Both were very useful to this adoptee.

It is difficult in two ways. It may unsettle adoptees reading it who have not considered the adoption issues raised. That is good. That is why it is valuable.

It is also difficult in its introduction of a private language and definition of terms to describe the effects of relinquishment by the birth mother and the transference that results; terms such as ghost kingdom, land of denial, free territory. Thankfully there is a page of definitions, page 314; a good starting point.

I feel that my trauma from adoption was not as severe, pervasive and all-encompassing in my life as it was for the authors. I also feel a suspicion that I delude myself. To paraphrase Clifton Fadiman, this book is a tool for self-discovery. `It will simply help you to change your interior life ...'

Robert Andersen finds insights in dealing with adoption issues from helping those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The authors tell an extremely personal story in vivid and disturbing terms, courageously exposing their feelings and relationship. Bertrand Russell said about being blackguarded for his beliefs over his appointment as a New York college professor "`to withdraw' ... would certainly have been more prudent as far as my personal interests are concerned, and a great deal pleasanter. ... it would also, in my judgement, have been cowardly and selfish."

I feel that the authors have been similarly courageous in exposing their feelings, writing this book and so aiding other adoptees. They deserve the thanks of adoptees everywhere. I heartily recommend this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Must" reading for anyone considering adoption & adoptees.., July 4, 2000

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Bridge Less Traveled, Twice Visited (Paperback)

In A Bridge Less Traveled: Twice Visited, Doctor Robert Andersen and classroom school teacher Rhonda Tucker collaborate to present issues arising from adoption and how adoption colors everyday experiences. Anderson and Tucker are themselves adoptees and explore the consequences of relinquishment unobscured or discounted through platitudes. They draw upon their adoptive experience to suggest avenues for resolution of these issues for adoptees, which includes much more than search for and reunion with their biological parents. A Bridge Less Traveled is "must" reading for anyone struggling with a need for an authentic identity as an adoptee and has much of critically important value and insight for the parents of adoptees and for anyone contemplating the adoption of a child.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The adopted person's personality from within, July 21, 2000

By 

Joe Soll (Congers, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Bridge Less Traveled, Twice Visited (Paperback)

This unique book offers a new perspective on the inner world of the adoptee that is insightful, intelligent and intensely provocative. The authors have written a classic that is a must read for any adopted person or anyone who wants to understand what makes an adoptee tick.

Joe Soll, CSW, author of "Adoption Healing ... A Path to Recovery"