At the start of each month, I look through the list of new releases that are scheduled to come out for the month and start placing the books I am interested in on the blog calendar. The only real issue with this system is that it would be impossible for me to not only read every book I am curious about, but also impossible for me to make space for a post on each of them. Laurie Frankel's Family Family is one of those that decided I would make space for, even removing another book from the schedule in favor of it. I could tell from the book jacket that this would be a complicated story, maybe even a little messy, but one full of humor and imagination.
The Situation: India Allwood is a TV star who recently made her film debut. She always knew she wanted to be an actor, but was always drawn more to stage acting, even musicals, though she cannot sing. Even so, when she was offered the lead on a new superhero TV show, she took it, knowing that the stability of the steady work would make it possible for her to fulfill another dream of adopting a child. Two actually: twins Jack and Fig. India navigates her career and single motherhood while dodging the paparazzi, and everything seems to be going well until she decides to be honest about her new movie. And then they get worse when one of her kids decides to try to be helpful.
The Problem: Naturally, people are upset when India says the movie is bad. Certainly her agent is upset, as are the people who made the movie. But for India, the movie tells the same old story about how adoption is surrounded by tragedy and loss, when she knows that is not always the case. India's ten year-old daughter, Fig, is not allowed on social media, and she has to share a cell phone with her brother Jack. Despite these restrictions, she manages to find and locate key people from her mother's past, hoping that they can help get her mother's message across. Instead, things spiral out of control, and various groups and protesters from all sides of the issue are camped out on her front lawn along with the paparazzi. And when Fig's reinforcements arrive, the real truth about India's family comes out.
Genre, Themes, History: This is a fiction novel that tells the story of India Allwood, a woman who has always wanted to be an actor, loves her kids, cannot sing, and carries around torn up index cards in her pocket in case there is ever an occasion to throw them in the air as confetti for a celebration. When the book begins, India lives in Los Angeles with her two adoptive kids and just starred in a movie about adoption. When she admits that it is a bad movie, she is suddenly at the center of a media firestorm, with the topic of adoption and her history with it at the center. In between chapters with India's current life as the focus are chapters that move through her past. And while her career has always been her focus, so has family, and just how complicated having one can be.
My Verdict: I feel like this is going to be one of those books I will wish more people read and talked about. Sure, it looks at the subject of adoption from nearly every angle, and makes the important point that it is not all tragedy and loss and sacrifice, but there is also a lot of joy involved, which is often missed in media. But while making this point, the book also tells a great story, and a funny one. Things spiral out of control for India in the best way, and I admit to laughing out loud at several points in the story, either because of something someone said, or because of the situation. I think this book will surprise a lot of people, should they decide to read it.
Favorite Moment: After arriving at college, India is dismayed to learn that the next stage production will be by a playwright she has never even heard of, and as someone who likes to over prepare before an audition, she is upset to realize that everything she had learned so far would not help her here. But this is until her mother makes her realize that what she has learned so far can absolutely help her here, so India sets to work doing her best and most thorough research, in the only way that she can. It made my college administrator heart so happy to see a student working so hard for something they want to do.
Favorite Character: There are plenty to choose from here, but I pick India's mother. As an immigration lawyer, and a single mother, Sarah Allwood does not have time to sugarcoat much for her daughter. So she carefully and intelligently dismantles all of her daughter's arguments, but with care and grace, and also, a little bit of brutality.
Recommended Reading: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer was nominated for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, and for good reason.
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