I purchased the book out of curiosity, since I am a Korean adoptee. I have mixed feelings about the book, and don't feel as though I am part of the book's targeted audience.
This book didn't really answer any of my questions about my adoption.
Still, the letters are touching, moving, beautiful... I cried while reading them. It gave me emotional release in the sense that it moved me to tears.
I think that the letters in this book bring more closure for the birth mothers and the adoptive mothers than they do for the Korean adoptees. Birth mothers are given a chance to justify their decision, to explain themselves, to put into words how and why they reached this agonizing choice. Adoptive mothers are commended, thanked, and applauded, told "You did the right thing, thank you so much!"
But what about the Korean adoptees? Each Korean woman writes an anonymous letter to her child. Are we to pretend that one of these letters is meant for us? These are details about other adoptions, not our own adoption. And they are about adoptions that took place in the 1990s, a lot later than in the 1970s and 1980s when most American Korean adoptees came to the U.S.
Because I was born in '81 and these letters were written in the 90's, I felt really disconnected from these women. If I could have ready even 1 letter written to 1 woman's daughter in the year I was born, I could have more easily imagined or felt like I was reading a letter written from my birth mother to me.
For mothers who have adopted Korean children, this book is wonderful. But for Korean adoptees, it leaves our many questions unanswered.
Still, Korean adoptees might enjoy it. It is an emotional read that will make you cry.
