Can you imagine anything more wonderful than being assisted to consciousness by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry each morning? Aside from having Hugh Laurie actually nudging you from the other side of the bed, of course.
I just finished the new A.M. Homes in anticipation of her April 16 event. I always get the adoption-related events; I asked for one once and since I am adopted, they seem to fall to me now. I suppose there are worse things I could claim.
This book didn't really do it for me, I'll admit. I'm always interested in adoption experiences, but this one could have elicited quite a bit more emotion than it did. It began as a brilliant, emotionally-charged piece in the New Yorker
in 2004. I can't find the essay online anymore, but here's anNPR interview Homes did around that time.
Like Ithaka, Homes’ parents sought her out, but her birth parents are not together like Sarah Saffian’s and never really were. Her mother was her father’s mistress, something that brings to mind images of Lana Turner in Peyton Place.
Given the strength of the original piece, I expected a more powerful, complete tale. Still, I know from experience that the issues brought up by adoption are complex and can take years to resolve, if then. Even though her mother died in 1998 I think she is still too close to the feelings to express herself as well as she does in her fiction.
One thing that struck me was how well the book illustrated how invested people are in their reality and how important that truth is to them. Homes wanted her birth mother to be someone other than she was, and her birth mother wanted Homes to be someone she wasn’t as well. I’m not sure either was prepared for the reality, and I hope I get a chance to discuss it with her in greater detail.