The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story [Hardcover]

Marian Henley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2008

At 49, cartoonist Marian Henley hasn't committed to marrying the man with whom she has been dating for seven years. But as the Big 5-0 looms, she realizes that above all else she wants a child. Her story follows the heartbreaking ups and downs of going through the international adoption process; deciding when it's time to grow up and maybe even get married; and in the end, it's the story of a daughter's relationship with her father, and how becoming a mother finally led her to understand him. THE SHINIEST JEWEL is a touching narrative, accompanied by Marian's winsome drawings, that beautifully weaves together her realizations about the joy, and sometimes heartbreak, of building a family.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nationally published comic strip artist Henley offers a warm, funny memoir of adopting her son, William, which will make you cry. With its talk of yoga, dating and the wacky freelance life of a cartoonist, it starts off sounding like a Sex in the City for the Austin, Tex., set. It's not. Where many older women comic artists fall into triteness, quips about men and snark, Henley rolls the reader back to a place where different generations matter and life makes sense. Comics are known for craziness, but they're also a medium that, unlike prose fiction, has a talent for making art from happy situations. On the surface, the protagonist's life is going to the aging, creative woman's hell: approaching 50, childless, with a younger boyfriend possibly afraid to commit, and, oh, yeah, her dad's dying. But even as the adoption agency screws up again and again, people come through, and her father finally meets the new son. The art's thin black lines belie the depth of the book. The drawings' simplicity works with the story, but the lines could be more expressive. Someone needs to take her roller-ball away from her. Otherwise, it's a near perfect book, especially for women over 30. (Sept.)
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Review

"THE SHINIEST JEWEL is one of the most heartbreaking, funny, poignant stories I've ever read. Full of joy and hope, but without a shred of sentimentality, this memoir shot straight to my heart one moment, then made me yelp with laughter the next. The illustrations are simply brilliant. What a miracle of a book." (author of Happiness Sold Separately Lolly Winston )

"An artfully told story of love, death, birth, and bureaucracy." (creator of Bizarro Dan Piraro )

"Spare, poetic storytelling conveys a tender, bare-bones depiction of personal growth, told simply enough to engage young and old alike." (Kirkus )

"Nationally published comic strip artist Henley offers a warm, funny memoir of adopting her son, William, which will make you cry....a near perfect book." (Publisher's Weekly )

"A fantastic book in several ways--the story, the writing, the characters and the cartoons. It's real!" (Folksinger, songwriter and activist Pete Seeger )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Springboard Press; 1 edition (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446199311
• ISBN-13: 978-0446199315
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 0.8 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,014,270 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Way back in the 50s, I was born two months prematurely in Dallas, Texas. Perhaps this explains everything. Hot cement, sprinklers swishing over thirsty grass, bottles of Dr. Pepper fresh out of the ice chest - all seen through the pink glitter cat-eye glasses that I had to start wearing at age three. These images drift up from my childhood memory box whenever I open it, along with the smell of a new comic book when I first opened it. Ahhh. Ink, paper.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A jewel of a book, October 3, 2008

By 

William R. Mathers (Dallas, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story (Hardcover)

I love this book. Marian Henley's drawings are so poetically spare, deft and masterful, and the story line is so compelling--the adoption of a child while losing a father--that I defy anyone not to read it in one sitting. I've always been a fan of Ms. Henley's work because of her commanding grasp of both the absurd and the sublime in life. She often mixes hilarity with poignancy in her work to illuminate her own very personal experiences. This takes great courage. And as deep as this book is, and as artfully constructed as it is, this tome is also a very FUN AND AMUSING read. THE SHINIEST JEWEL will give you many little jolts of pleasure and pathos through the unsentimental voice of its author. It sheds light on our wacky human condition, and on our one possible hope of redemption through the power of love. All written with great humor and heart. BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!! You'll cherish it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bittersweet Story of Adoption (Almost) Gone Awry, October 7, 2008

By 

Rachel Kramer Bussel "Cupcakes Take the Cake ... (New York City) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story (Hardcover)

Marian Henley's The Shiniest Jewel is a moving graphic memoir about, at its core, life and death, the two intertwined here in her search for a baby to adopt, and the poor health of her aging father. Her circumstances are unusual: she's 49 and unmarried, though she has been with her boyfriend, Rick, for a decade.

What's outstanding about this book is how powerful Henley's illustrations are, often saying so much more than her words. She shows her horror at the idea of marriage with a series of grotesque faces. She makes though bubble asides, one of the funniest of which is when she finally does decide to get married, and as she publicly says "We just adopted him from Russia!" she's thinking, "So, you see I'm not a slut." Another priceless one is when she's being interviewed about adopting, she gets yelled at by a woman who, in the drawing, practically breathes fire.

The babies, first Sergey, whose adoption falls through, then Igor, who she winds up adopting and calling William, are less cute and perky than most images of babies we see. They are more solid, chunky, in Henley's version.

This is also a bit of a warning to those looking to adopt through an agency. Henley almost has a breakdown when her visit to Vladivostok is almost for naught when the staff of her agency fails to tell her she needs a certain document. Though she doesn't explicitly offer advice, and she is someone who did her research, the point comes across that no matter how prepared you are, there will likely be obstacles, especially if you're unmarried.

This is a tearjerker, as by the end, her father is in hospice, his descent chronicled alongside the first moments of her motherhood. Henley's simple but powerful artwork serves as a complement to her story, one that may not be all that remarkable, but finds its power in the most basic human emotions, ones that speak to our need for family, the kind we are born into and the kind we create.

There is a happy (mostly) ending, but there is still a trace of sadness, as the "shiniest jewel" she plucks from Russia means that her adopted son's family couldn't afford to care for him. The look she's given by his caretaker says volumes, and underscores the fact that none of this is an easy process for Henley, even if the ultimate outcome is one that brings her what she's been seeking. Even the very idea that a baby is a "shiny jewel" clamoring for someone's attention has a bittersweet twist, as Igor leaves the other children behind. That's not the focus of this story, but is still something Henley makes sure her readers are aware of, weaving happy and sad, life and death, until it can become hard to fully separate them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching and Moving, October 6, 2008

By 

Carol (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Shiniest Jewel: A Family Love Story (Hardcover)

I've read this book twice and both times it made me laugh and brought tears to my eyes. Henley uses spare and telling line drawings to convey her story, diving into the hope, loss, joy, anxiety, frustration, and familial and romantic ties that layer this tale of loves gained and lost. Excellent storytelling -- rich and deceptively complex in this apparently straight-forward graphic narrative.