Customer Reviews

Brother and Sister

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was my first encounter with Joanna Trollope, and I was thoroughly engaged. There are no peripheral characters. Each person has a dramatic journey, captured by Trollpe economically in well chosen scenarios.

The structure was a clever one: Natalie and David, with different birth mothers are adopted into the same family, each now feels something is missing in their lives, and they are each closer to each other than they are to their partners. Jealousy and fear of loss entwine, leaving everyone unsettled.

The birth mothers' stories are poignant and compelling, as is the struggle and growth of Lynne, the adoptive mother. Natalie's partner and David's wife feel understandably left out of their search, but struggle with their own issues of identity, intimacy and control.

For me, this novel provides an argument for open adoption, at least giving the children a narrative of their own beginnings, and the birth parents some information about the progress of their children if they wish it, or at best a completely open situation where everyone stays, to some extent, a part of each other's lives. But then, that wouldn't make a very interesting novel.

I am an adoptee, and I have to say that I found this book far off the mark of my experience. Nothing rang true to me in this book except Cora's loss at the substitution of her baby for the real woman who was her daughter. I recently went through my own search and reunion with my birthmother and my mother, my husband and my son could not have been more supportive and interested in my journey. And they shared in it all the way. My new found siblings were also welcoming and loving at a very difficult time. My sister went through her own journey ten years ago and her experience also could not have been more different than the characters in this book. I found most of the characters and their angst totally unrealistic. The author obviously knows nothing of the real adoption, search and reunion experience except from reading about it from these pseudo-experts and their jargon about the "primal scream" of adoptees when they are ripped from their biological mothers at birth. Total bunk. If you are an adoptee don't read this book, and especially don't read it if you ever plan to search for your birth parents. For those who have never gone through the experience, read it, but with a suspension of disbelief, because it is far from the real experience.

Whew, what a relief that this is a good novel, the sort of quality experience I expect from Trollope since her last novel (Girl from the South) was inferior. This one, however, is mighty fine reading and particularly involving. Definitely THE story for those interested in adoption from whichever view you want (adoptee, adopter, married to, sibling with, etc.).

Wonderful book replete with the details, texture and ungovernable emotions of family life. Finest kind of reading. I have to say I learn from Trollope's novels and I mean that in a good way. When it comes to the family and our human hearts, Trollope has insights that entertain, sure, but which also are useful. Mind you, I hate that touch-feely stuff! but I love Trollope's novels.

Joanna Trollope's new book deals with a subject of which I've had some experience. I'm a birth mother who's daughter found me 10 years ago. Having read five or six of Trollope's novels, I was interested to see how she would handle this topic. She's done the research. The adoption triad is complex and Trollope recognizes this. Cora and Carole's reactions to being found and meeting their children rang true for me.

The story lost power when it shifted back and forth to Steve's office staff. These people weren't interesting and were an annoying distraction from the main topic.

Those readers who have an interest in, or are involved in, the adoption triad may find this a good read. It's not hard to relate to each member's postion. Trollope has succeeded in showing adoption and the adoption reunion in a realistic way.

When you upset the delicacy of a family, you never know what the outcome will be so when Nathalie and David agree to search for their birth mothers, the applecart turns upside down and we watch the apples tumble out. Everyone is affected by this decision. Their adoptive mother has serious concerns over her role in their life once they've met the women who gave birth to them. Their spouses have to sort through where they fit in the overall picture. The birth mothers have to face their past and decide how or if it will fit in with their present. Even the children of the two siblings feel the changes around them and react in their own way. Trollope tells a good story. Perhaps there are some issues that seem to be a little thin. I would have liked to know a bit more about the after affects to Cora and Carole, the two birth mothers. But overall, it's an interesting storyline and has some merit to it.

When my daughter was little and would get angry with my wife or I, she'd often say, "I want my real parents." As a person who had adoptive grandparents, I found this subject to be fascinating. Trollope's book answers the question about just who our real parents are. If there is a lesson, what I got was that our real parents are the ones who give us love while we're growing up.

The issues in the book are riveting. How our sense of family can be threatened by change and impacts each member of the group shines through. I found it particularly significant that as David and Nathalie find birth mothers Carole and Cora, the reality of these women is a shock to how they had been imagined. Equally fascinating is the dynamic within Carole's family as her husband Connor is supportive and son Martin short circuits finding that he is suddenly not the oldest of his mother's sons.

The characters are all deep. However, the story does take unexpected turns that like an unwanted half brother were not entirely welcome. Nathalie's live-in boyfriend Steve's affair seemed strange to me. We are introduced to him being a stable and supportive mate who then experiences lethal doses of insecurity. The same is true for David's wife Marnie whose insecurity over David's connection to his adoptive sister Nathalie causes anxieties and odd behavior. That the search then results in the ultimate schism of the bond between brother and sister is even less welcome. Satisfying elements of the story are with the adoptive Lynne and her working through her feelings and the scene with son David where he confirms his bond with his adoptive mother. I also enjoyed the exploration into Cora's world and the social situation that brought her to give up her baby.

Overall, I found this an enjoyable reading experience. The issues are weighty. It made me really picture the feelings of adopted children. I reflected on my own family and how it might be different if adoption results from the death of birth parents rather than social circumstance. Trollope's pacing and command of language are masterful. The setting of locations in Great Britain makes us feel as if we'd been there. Enjoy!

In this tension-filled domestic drama, Joanna Trollope shows how the adoption of two children, now adults, have affected all the families involved--the birth mothers and their later families, the adoptive parents and grandparents, and the adoptees themselves, their spouses, and their children. Nathalie, the partner of Steve Ross and mother of their child, has always considered it an advantage to be adopted, to be "chosen," but when her young daughter Polly needs surgery for a condition that may be inherited, her own adoption becomes an issue for her. Asking "What else don't I know about where Polly's come from?" she suddenly comes to a life-changing realization: "I want to be like people who know where they come from." She and her brother David decide to search for their birth mothers.

The rippling effects of the decision to search for birth mothers dominate this carefully constructed novel. Nathalie's adoptive mother, not surprisingly, is devastated that both of "her" children need to find "other" mothers. The birth mothers, by turn, have created new lives of their own, each dealing with her "lost" child in her own way. Nathalie's husband, David's wife, and their children are also affected, not least by the fact that Nathalie and David choose to share their feelings with each other, rather than with their spouses. As the ripple effects continue, other characters, even including employees, are drawn into the emotional vortex, and unexpected complications send the action in surprising directions with new twists and turns.

Trollope reveals the inner lives of her characters through beautifully realized dialogue, and she pays particular attention to the details of personality and domestic relationships. The reader is quickly drawn into the action and empathizes with the characters, who seem realistic, though they are not fully developed. In fact, we learn about each one only what is necessary for the author to illustrate the myriad effects of adoption on the adoptees and the people who love them. The themes dominate, controlling both the action and the characters themselves. A vivid domestic drama with an unusual subject and characters, the novel shows us how relationships are tested and tempered. Ultimately, both the characters and the reader come to a new appreciation of the complexities of love and families. Mary Whipple

What happens when an adult man and woman suddenly decide to seek out their biological mothers? Joanna Trollope introduces us to a wide cast of characters in this novel, and examines the effect the main characters', siblings Nathalie and David, sudden pressing search for their biological mothers has on those who surround them. It all starts when Steve, Nathalie's common-law husband has a friend at work whose girlfriend wants to interview adult adoptees. After talking with her, Nathalie decides she wants to find out about her mother, and convinces her David, to search for his biological mother at the same time. Instead of looking at adoption just from the view of the children who were given up, Trollope skillfully shows us how Nathalie and David's children, spouses, parents, co-workers and biological mothers and their families deal with the two's hunt. These many points of view and feelings add to the great characterization. I think I will be checking out more of her work.

Nathalie and David, the two main characters, each delivered by a different mother, have been lovingly raised by their adoptive parents. As they reach adulthood, with their own partners and family to raise, a gnawing, persistent thought starts to take shape in Nathalie's mind. Her feelings influence her brother David too and the search for their respective biological families begins.
This comes almost as a surprise to their partners and adoptive parents too, to whom they've always vowed a disinterest about their origins, thinking that their present, in itself quite serene and fulfilling, was all that mattered.
An emotional roller coaster ensues, involving everybody.
Also, will Nathalie and David find an answer to their craving desire TO KNOW and will they eventually understand/accept it? Buy this lovely piece of fiction, which in any case I'm sure reflects many real stories out there, and find out.

This is the 4th book I read by J. Trollope and, as usual, I've liked it very, very much. The story is delivered with compassion and understanding, the narrative makes it a page-turner.

Interesting characters and great prose, but there is a serious structural problem here. After 30-odd years of life, the two main characters meet their birth mothers and everything -- all their emotional issues, character traits, effect on their own families -- is neatly resolved and wrapped up in six months or so? Not credible, and this effort to wrap everything up so fast and tidily makes the novel seem to rush by in a blur to an artificially contrived ending. Had the author written a longer book which showed the unfolding events and character developmnet over several years, it would have been a great book...