heatheradiamond's reviews
296 reviews

This memoir blew me away. As a former runaway teen and a parent of a grown daughter who took paths for which I was unprepared, I was drawn into the emotional turmoil and conflicts the author felt when she lost her daughters to the streets. I feel deep respect and gratitude for the author's willingness to lay bare the hurt and anger she felt and to write so candidly about her sense of guilt about being stretched thin as a single parent and her helplessness in the face of the cultural influences that lured her girls away from home. In addition to being a personal story, this book is an important reminder that there are a lot of kids living on the streets these days, they come from a variety of backgrounds, and not everyone gets their children back. This book is heartbreaking and inspiring as well as beautifully written.

I loved this memoir partly for its compelling genealogical detective story, but mostly for its provocative reflections on the nature of personal identity, otherness, and the influences of blood versus upbringing. This book is a beautifully written chronicle of what happens when your family narrative is upended through DNA research. It is laced with philosophical ruminations and disturbing research around questions of medical ethics with regards to the infertility industry. At its heart, Inheritance is a story about how we construct our family narratives and the challenges and rewards of coming to terms with what we cannot know about the people we come from.