High tech meets high touch in actor B.D. Wongs remarkable electronic parenting memoir, Following Foo The story begins when the surrogate mother, carrying twins for Wong and longtime partner Richie, gives birth 11 weeks early. The loss of the first twin and the anguished nurturing of the tiny Foo are described in a series of e-mails for friends, family and theatrical colleagues, whose responses are also reprinted. Readers ride the roller coaster of Foos surgeries, eye exams, pneumonia scares, dropping heart rate, and brochospasms. Although Wong is writing about a unique situation, he manages to capture the fear and awe that every parent will recognize. Wongs wiry alertness, sly show-business humor, and aching vulnerability are a potent mix. In one e-mail, he captures the terror and tenderness of the intensive-care nursery. In another, he celebrates Foos first, long- awaited "poop." He overeats, describes his parents in loving detail, and leaves the door of a hospital refrigerator (packed with frozen breast milk) wide open. The authors voice crackles with love, energy and astute observation. Occasionally his essays--for example, one written from baby Foos perspective--seem forced. Also, the decision to include the name-dropping "credits" of the friends who responded to his e-mails mar this otherwise exceptional tale. Still, these don't obscure the book's charms. Early in the book, Wong compares his newborn son to "a little chestnut mana wise old man selling chestnuts on a snowy night." By the books end, it is Wongs hard-won wisdom that will warm readers. --Barbara Mackoff
Film and TV actor Wong describes the mine-infested trail to parenthood he and his partner Richie had to tread when their surrogate mother delivered twin boys 28 weeks prematurely. Complicating matters, the elder boy had been a "donor twin"; that is, his blood supply had been detoured to the other. Only the latter, named Jackson Foo Wong, survived. Wong grippingly relays the emotional roller coaster of his preemie fatherhood by rendering events in a series of lively e-mails filled with everything from elation to devastation and sparked by words and passages set in outsized, bold, uppercase type: hypertext for hyperemotion. He lightens the two-steps-forward-one-step-back progress characteristic of preemie development with wryly humorous observations of the big picture that included his petrified partner and some gung-ho, cheerleading grandparents--and with food! When the going gets tough, Wong says, Asians eat. If his mother wasn't dishing up delicious, homemade meals, then another relative was--all of which adds to the warmth of this engrossing tale of parallel developments: Jackson's into independent infanthood and Wong's into an accomplished writer. Whitney Scott
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Review
“Energetic and upbeat reportage from the parental frontlines.” — Kirkus Reviews
“The incredible human spirit has never been more apparent than in this uplifting journey.” — Michelle Kwan
“In his first book, B.D. Wong befriends the world.” — John Lithgow
“Any parent will identify with this extraordinary, dramatic, and heart-wrenching story.” — Jill Clayburgh
“High tech meets high touch in actor B.D. Wong’s remarkable electronic parenting memoir.” — Amazon.com
From the Back Cover
Every now and then there comes along a literary voice so strong, so originally sincere, and so uniquely distinct that the words on the page seem to sing and to scream and to dance -- all at once and all on their own. Such is the wonderful writing debut of acclaimed actor B.D. Wong.
With a remarkable mixture of upbeat optimism, unexpected hilarity, and heart-wrenching sadness, Wong takes the reader deep inside both his psyche and the neonatal intensive care unit where he spent the better part of three months following the harrowing medical twists and turns that took place after the premature birth of his twins."Once upon a time," as Wong explains in his true story, Following Foo: (the electronic adventures of the Chestnut Man), "my partner and I found ourselves expecting, with the help of a surrogate mother, modern medical science, and lots of good luck and prayers. To add to our blessing, she was carrying twins! Things were pretty swell ... until the twins arrived almost three months early. For those of you who don't know, babies that come almost three months early are pretty little, and boy are they scary-looking. Especially when you're their dad ... "
Originally based on a series of real-time E-mails sent to keep his friends and family abreast of the daily madness and miracles of "early" parenthood, this book is a gem, a joy, and an inspiration to anyone who has ever taken a ride on the roller coaster of life and tried to keep both sense of humor and sanity intact.
About the Author
B. D. Wong made his Broadway debut in M. Butterfly. He is the only actor to be honored with the Tony Award®, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theater World Award for the same performance.
