Customer Reviews

Somebody's Baby

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a book I couldn't put down. It is the story of Jenny Jaffe, a Jewish girl living in Kansas City, and how she meets and falls in love with a non-Jewish boy named William Cole MacDonald. Jenny and Will have many sexual encounters and he teaches her to open up and be assertive. Her relationship with will is openly frowned upon by her parents, and when she ends up pregnant with Will's baby, her parents send her away to a home for wayward girls in Los Angeles. She has the baby and is forced to put it up for adoption. The story continues by telling the story of Claudia, Jenny's baby, and how she searches for her birthparents. It recounts the years of her life and her struggle to find the answers to the many questions that adopted children have. This is a story of an everlasting love, of reunion, and of adoption...a firsthand look at how an adopted child struggles to find answers, and how adoptive parents struggle to hold on to "their baby". This story tells the truth: True love never dies.

This is my first book by Elaine Kagan and I have my librarian to thank for that. She wrote her name down on my slip and said, try her. And I picked this one up in a hurry ~~ and it was one of the nicest books I've read in a long time.

As an expectant mother, I cannot imagine ever giving up my babies. I cannot imagine losing the love of my life ~~ nor have my parents take me away from him and make me give up our children. But as I was reading this book, the images still came to mind and Kagan's words are vivid enough to imagine the terror, the sorrows and the pain that Jenny must have gone through to give up her baby. Hers and Will ~~ the only man she has ever loved.

Then Claudia, the baby, begins a search to find an identity of herself ~~ she knew she was adopted ~~ her adoptive parents have never withheld the truth from her ~~ and she wanted to know where she got her looks from, her mannerisms ~~ to find the missing pieces of herself. And the search led to finding both of her biological parents. The search also opened up a new world for Claudia ~~ she was one of the lucky ones. All of her parents wanted her. She was the blessed one.

I really enjoyed this book ~~ I had to put it down a couple of times to avoid crying over parts of it. And Kagan is a good writer ~~ she writes with passion and vividness. She takes you into her story and you can't easily escape from it without thinking of the issues she's trying to make you think about. In this case, adoption is a little-known subject for me ~~ and it opened my eyes to all the sides of the issues. However, I wish she did explore a little more about Claudia's adoptive dad's feelings about Claudia meeting her biological father. Dads are just as important to a child's life as the mothers are.

This is a good read ~~ I highly recommend it. The story will enrapture you and you would want to know if Claudia's biological parents ever did find each other again.

4-14-02

This book was definetly a page turner. I finished it in one day. I couldnt put it down. I was reading it in the prosepctive of the daughter and I found it to be quite interesting when I gave it to my mother and to hear her presepective and it was so different. I would love to know how to write or e mail the author.

As an apopted child who has "always wondered", I found Somebody's Baby a wonderful and memorable book. I was moved to tears more than once, and one segment (saying goodbye to Cole) made me sob. Although I was the child given away in my personal story, I identified so much with Jenny, and what she went through in giving her baby up. This story is well written, quick-paced, and heartbreaking. The author has a real knack for putting you there, right in the middle of small town 1960. An interesting touch is the narrative switching from first person to third as the story progresses. This is a must read for anyone who was adopted, to get a possible glimpse of the other side of the story. Would I recommend this book to anyone who has given a baby up for adoption? Yes, if she or he has the heart for it. Whatever side of the story you're on, Somebody's Baby is a vivid portrait of love, suffering, and hope.

Elaine Kagan's "Somebody's Baby" will go down in history as one of the best novels I've ever read. The story of a woman who was adopted and is trying to find her birth parents and finding out more than she ever expected. This is also the story of man and woman who have loved each other an entire lifetime but are separated by circumstances beyond their control and are reunited many years later by the child they had together. This is the love story of a lifetime and one that you will remember forever. I loved this story and you will too.

I too found this title through Amazon.com. I can't begin to express just how much I enjoyed this book. The passion between Jenny and Will was so real I almost found myself jealous at times. If you haven't read this one yet I suggest you order it right away and make time, no matter how busy your schedule is, to read it. You won't be sorry!

As an adopted child who has "always wondered", I was moved by this well written book. The author has a real knack for putting you there, right in the middle of small town 1960.It was easy to identify with Jenny, and the pain she felt in giving her baby up for adoption, even though in my situation, I was the one being given away. The passionate and overwhelming love Jenny and Will had for each other will probably make many readers recall their first loves in painful, glorious detail. An interesting touch was that the narrative began in first person, and later, smoothly switched to third, without missing a beat. This would be a great book for anyone who was adopted or has adopted a child. It gives a realistic look at the other side of the story. Would I recommend this book to anyone who has given a child away? Only if they have the heart for it.

This was such a refreshing book. It really gets to the heart of these people and it makes you feel as if you are right there going through it with the characters. It is the story of a love that was waisted because of nonsense and misunderstandings. I highly recommend this to anyone that wants to sit back, relax, and read a good, refreshing novel.

this book was excellent! Thanks Amazon.com for recommending this book! I want a Somebody's Baby part 2 -I would love to know how the author would have these characters continue on.....

Claudia is in her 30's, married and with a small child of her own when she decides to find her birth parents. Even tho Margaret, her adoptive mother, fears that the search will destroy the love Claudia has for them, she helps her with the little information that she has; Claudia's original name on an amended birth certificate, some crystal rosary beads and stray bits of facts tshe was able to glean from the social worker assigned to their case.

With only this to go on, Claudia finds her birth mother and then against everyone's wishes, she also finds her birth father. What she discovers surprises everyone, especially herself.

This is a wonderful book about sacrifice, caring and survival against all odds.