Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures [Hardcover]

Craig Hickman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2005

Bestselling author Craig Hickman had had enough of the secrets and cover-ups and lies and was determined to solve the mystery of his roots. A brilliant and inspirational vision of love and spirituality, "Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures" chronicles his quest for his birth heritage and the aftermath in a one-of-a-kind, ambitious, and stunning new memoir. An estimated 7 million Americans are adopted. Depending on their age, many were adopted under the secrecy and shame of the closed adoption proceedings that ruled the day prior to the eighties. Unwanted pregnancies were covered up. Public and private agencies practically guaranteed young mothers and their families that they could go to their graves with their secrets intact. No one would ever find out who they were, least of all the children they were giving away. Adoptive parents got little, misleading, or no information about the circumstances surrounding their adopted child's birth. Imagine growing up and having to witness your doctor mark large black X's through your medical file under the family history section because you have no idea what conditions or diseases run in your bloodline. Imagine living most of your life without ever seeing anyone who looked like you. Imagine that when you are finally old enough to get some information about where you came from, your file resembles a classified FBI document littered with long black streaks that render your born identity anonymous. In this gripping and intimate memoir, Craig Hickman heeds the signs of his life and journeys into uncharted waters. After five years of searching, he shows up unannounced on his birth mother's doorstep. Craig's parents and sister aresupportive of his search, as is Job, the Dutchman with whom Craig has shared the last four years of his life. Jennifer, a devout Seventh-Day Adventist, happy that her son has found her, attempts to allay her guilt and shame for giving him up and tries to make up for lost time. After all, she believes her son loves men because she abandoned him at birth. Borrowing from ancient oral traditions, the story is told primarily in the third person whereby the telling of the story becomes part of the story itself. Set primarily in Milwaukee and Boston--with stops in Atlanta, St. Louis, Alabama, Maine, Ohio, and Wyoming--and peopled with unforgettable characters, "Fumbling Toward Divinity" weaves together several compelling lives and relationships in an unputdownable read. From the opening pages to the poignant conclusion, Craig Hickman re-invents the memoir and proves himself a master storyteller. Part mystery, part history, part family saga, part divination--all of it true--"Fumbling Toward Divinity" bears witness to the transcendent power of spirit and love in an age of terror and madness. It delivers an emotional intensity that fiction - by comparison - can hope to achieve.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Craig Hickman is a poet, performance artist, cultural activist, and author of "The Language of Mirrors" and the bestseller "Rituals: Poetry & Prose." He is the biological great grandson of Madree Penn White, national co-founder of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard University. He is a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant, a James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement from the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance, and a Gertrude Johnson Williams Literary Award from Ebony magazine. His solo performances, "skin & ornaments" and "Portraits of a Black Queen," have been staged all over the country. He appeared as himself in the feature film "Never Met Picasso," starring Alexis Arquette and Margot Kidder. His writings have appeared in "Gents, Bad Boys, and Barbarians," "Transgender Warriors," "Trans Liberation," "Taking Liberties," and "O Solo Homo," as well as numerous literary journals and newspapers.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 373 pages
• Publisher: Annabessacook Farm (February 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0976246201
• ISBN-13: 978-0976246206
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #528,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #86 in Books > Gay & Lesbian > Biographies & Memoirs > Gay

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On the Brink, April 5, 2005

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures (Hardcover)

That Craig Hickman is a very bright man, well schooled, a fine investigator, and a man with a mission is obvious from the moment you open this excellent book. Given his credentials as a performance artist, poet, cultural activist and author it is apparent he has the courage and conviction to write this book about the agonies, frustrations, and of course the joys of adoption, of gay relationships, of the search for identity when that identity is locked away with unknown birth parents. The crown of this input is that this book is actually a memoir, a shared body of information that required more diligence and investigation than the toughest of PhD dissertations.

For this reviewer Hickman's FUMBLING TOWARD DIVINITY: THE ADOPTION SCRIPTURES is uneven. The first portion of this memoir is inundated with names, histories, paths, and intricacies that make the reading a bit tedious. Yes, it is written well, the language works, but it is the placement of the narrator in the third person (a time honored if beleaguered tradition of writing memoirs) that subtracts the immediacy of the information to the story - and it is the story here presented that is the fascinating aspect of this book.

Once Hickman connects with all aspects of his families (birth, adopted, partner's family) then the grace of the writing is secure, the development of the avenues of the journey become warmly fascinating, and the book jumps into the welcome arena of entertainment. I'm not sure if the substance of the book could have been altered in any way to make the entire volume as interesting as the latter half, but to the casual reader of literature (not those with whom ready identification with any of the multifaceted aspects of the author invite identification) the telling gets a bit trying at times.

Hickman's prose is up with the best of writers. If he occasionally calls attention to scripture-like verbiage, if key thoughts are repeated every other sentence for effect, if information is revisited a bit too often, then that is a style that Hickman may be in the course of developing. Future books (and it would seem there WILL be future books) will finesse some of these sidebar distractions.

There is every reason to believe that Hickman may evolve into another James Baldwin (a personal favorite author of mine), but it will take some forays into fiction to test those waters thoroughly. So why only 4 stars for this book? It is out of optimism that Craig Hickman has more to say and more talent with which to say it. I think he is a fine writer and certainly is deserving of our attention. The 5 stars seem destined to come. Grady Harp, April 05

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite--A Must Read, March 3, 2005

By 

Marcy Gray (Milwaukee, WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures (Hardcover)

I could not put this book down. I agree with the other reviewers on this page. This book is absolutely beautiful. Hickman's relationships with his husband, with his sisters, his parents, his birth family--all of them are exquisitely written. You can feel the pain the joy the sadness the triumph the love. Even though it is ostensibly a book about family and adoption and reunion, this book provides the best argument for gay marriage that I've ever read.

Everyone must read this book. I recommend it to people of all religious backgrounds, especially those are the far right who insist upon denying equal rights in marriage to all people.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, February 23, 2005

By 

L. G. "l9876" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures (Hardcover)

I've taken a while to read this wonderful book, because it's so filled with complex human emotions that I needed time to breathe and think after a few chapters of its combination of lyrical prose and dynamic storytelling. The author's story resonates with anyone for whom the past is a haunting mystery containing longed for answers to essential questions about identity, love, sacrifice and survival. Anyone passionate about James Baldwin will hear echoes of the man's style, language and profoundly brave intelligence in Hickman's work. I felt lucky to have found this book.