A Love Like No Other [Mass Market Paperback]

Pamela Kruger (Editor), Jill Smolowe (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 26, 2006

Drawn from personal experience, these stories offer vivid and beautifully rendered snapshots of the adoptive parenting experience. Featuring: Marcelle Clements, Laura Shaine Cunningham, Christina Frank, Jesse Green, Melissa Fay Greene, Doug Hood, Pamela Kruger, Jenifer Levin, Antoinette Martin, Jacquelyn Mitchard, Adam Pertman, Emily Prager, Amy Rackear, Bonnie Miller Rubin, Dan Savage, Bob Shacocchis, Jill Smolowe, Sheila Steinbeck, Joe Treen, and Jana Wolf.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From various perspectives, 20 adoptive parents offer evocative, sometimes provocative, personal essays that have the liveliness and immediacy of prose fiction. Biological parents are variously imagined, sought and found in the opening section, "Reflections on Birth Parents." In "Encounters with the Unexpected," adoptive parents confront "postadoption depression," family wariness, ethnic identity issues and disabling psychological problems. Each family (single parent, gay parent, divorced parents, intra-family adoption, blended family) is adoptive in its unique way, persuasively confirmed in "Variations on Family." While the early sections focus on the parent-child relationship, the concluding "Personal Transformations" leans toward the child-to-parent effect; as one writer puts it, "I knew a child would rearrange my home life, but upend my career and worldview? Those two items weren't even on my list." Any parent will find commonality here, but the collection will especially engage adoptive parents in conversation and controversy with people who share their dilemmas and delights. Diverse as this collection is, it's worth noting that the essayists are professional writers (they include Jacquelyn Mitchard, Emily Prager and Dan Savage), most of the children are preadolescent and 11 of the adoptions are transnational (five of them from China).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Gripping, rarely told tales of life as adoptive parents." - USA Today
"Illuminates both the thrilling and trying elements of adoption." - People
"Compelling, complex, and compulsively readable." - Elle
"A rewarding read for adoptive parents, as well as for friends and family wishing to gain insight." - San Francisco Chronicle
"Gorgeous writing, deeply felt and strikingly expressed." - Christian Science Monitor
"A magical and candid collection, which I found impossible to put down...I guarantee it will provoke, edify, anger, amuse, stretch, touch, captivate, or even transform you." - Adoptive Families

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (September 26, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594482152
• ISBN-13: 978-1594482151
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,477,379 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Adoptive Families/Friends, December 3, 2005

By 

R. L. White "Mom2MMJ" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Love Like No Other: Stories from Adoptive Parents (Hardcover)

I saw this book advertised in Adoptive Families magazine and immediately ordered it. So many of the essays spoke to me even though each detailed experience was different. Stories about domestic adoptions, post adoption depression, international adoption, open adoption, special needs adoption, response of family to the adoption and more are shared in an honest and touching manner. As a mom of 3 boys (2 adopted from China) I could relate to many of the experiences which were written about. Not only did the essays cause me to reflect on experiences our family has already gone through, but provided me with insight on experiences we will very likely face in the future (racism at school, discussions about birth parents, whether to or when to take our children back to the country of birth, teenage identity issues, etc) This book is a must read not only for parents who have or will adopt a child but for their families and friends as well.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honest, moving and funny. A book for every parent., November 3, 2005

By 

M. Lewis (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Love Like No Other: Stories from Adoptive Parents (Hardcover)

I bought this excellent book for friends who are in the process of adopting a child and found myself unable to put it down. Besides being beautifully written the essays are insightful and personal -- ranging from funny and surprising to heartbreaking stories about love and what it means to be a parent. A must read.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A world revealed, November 10, 2005

By 

Icarus (Copake, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Love Like No Other: Stories from Adoptive Parents (Hardcover)

What drew me to this book was my interest in understanding different life experiences. What I did not expect was to get such an honest, poignant and intense look into the diverse journeys some people have made in the process of adoption. Of all these incredibly engrossing stories, I think I was most affected, and surprised, by Melissa Fay Greene's painful struggle (painful for her and painful to read) with "post-adoption panic" ( I never heard of such a syndrome). She exposes her VERY personal and very troubling self-doubt about her newly-adopted Bulgarian (?) son and if she can truly love him. Wondering if she's the only person who ever felt this way, instantly made her troubles so "real' and, in turn, so universal to me. What a difficult topic to discuss publicly. I cannot imagine that most books on the subject have been willing to explore and reveal such a candid account of an adoption.
I am not married, and do not intend to have children of my own, so this book really took me somewhere that, until now, was quite alien to me. I'm very glad I chose this particular book on adoption, because I imagine it's a uniquely honest and diverse presentation of the subject. Now, I can move on to the next life experience.