7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Motherless Child~From The Heart, July 13, 2008
This review is from: Motherless Child - stories from a life (Paperback)
It's rare that you read a `Black' mother's journey of giving up her child for adoption...it's usually kept a secret among the family.
You will be moved to tears and understanding as Sarah Gordon Weathersby recounts her life story of growing up without her own mother and navigating through all the twists and turns of decisions made in the best interest of a `Motherless Child'
Finally you will feel her joy as she reconnects with the daughter she gave up for adoption and know that by doing so she was doing it in the best interest of her own child.
`Motherless Child' is a must read for anyone who has ever faced growing up without a parent and or finds themselves in a situation where they have to make a hard decision.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scenes of Pathos and Humor, July 14, 2008
This review is from: Motherless Child - stories from a life (Paperback)
I must say that I was moved to tears reading this book by Sarah Gordon Weathersby; not once, but several times. Motherless Child chronicles the life of a teenage girl in the 1960's, who, when faced with an unplanned pregnancy at a critical time in her life and that of her family, makes an agonizing choice. The choice she makes to give up her child for adoption has consequences. The result for the child, she comes to believe, was one that has many benefits. The result for her was a lifetime of pain and wondering.
That which seemed the greatest of tragedies in the 1960's, nearly 40 years later, mainly because of the many adjustments in societal mores in America, becomes bearable. It is bearable because the child had grown up in a loving home and became a doctor and a happily married mother. But the uncertainty of all those years almost consumes the author. The writing is so pointed and graceful at the same time. It points to the inward grief of a girl who becomes a woman in an instant, and it paints on a very large canvass of the 60's through the 90's multifaceted scenes of pathos and humor.
This story could have been about any girl faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, but because the story is about an African American girl in a typical African American family it has particular meaning for an America who almost never gets a glimpse into that class of families. So, often the stereotypes of "gangsta" rap, and of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the American sociologist and politician who advised Nixon's America to treat African Americans with "benign neglect", becomes easy substitutes for the complex society of African Americans in the United States. These approaches sometimes dull the sensitiveness of other Americans to the human element present in that society as in any other society.
"Motherless Child: The Story of A Life" almost single handedly draws the reader out of that silly cocoon into the realities of the red blooded life of a person who experiences tragedy and triumph in one life.
Dr. Michael V.W. Gordon
Professor Emeritus, Indiana University
Former Vice Chancellor/Dean of Students
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspirational...., July 13, 2008
This review is from: Motherless Child - stories from a life (Paperback)
This memoir is a joy to read. It brings smiles, tears, and inspires, as well. Sarah Gordon Weathersby paints a vivid picture of family, love, and the difficult choices we sometimes must make.
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