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There seemed to be no choice. All her dreams, all her hopes had dies with her fiance, Brad. The only thing left of him was the child she was carrying, and now she had to let their baby go as well. Her family was right: as a single, unwed mother, still so young, she would have too tough a time of it; the child would be better off with the adoptive parents who had so excitedly come forward. Common sense told her she had to let it go. Why then did her heart keep telling her "no"? In Change of Heart, Tracy Stern brings her gift for romantic storytelling to this novel of a young woman faced with one of life's most agonizing decisions.
The emotional turmoil of adoption churns through this romantic yarn by Stern (This I Promise). In her early 20s, Kerry McKinney planned to marry her childhood sweetheart, finish college and start a writing career. When her fianc dies in an accident, she is devastated-and secretly pregnant. Turning to her grandmother Lisbeth in San Francisco, Kerry gets and heeds advice to give the baby up. Satisfied that she's found the perfect adoptive couple, Kerry is set in her decision-until the baby is born and she discovers that letting go is not so easy after all. While Stern has chosen a gut-wrenching premise, she fails to give her story the emotional power or poignancy it deserves. Kerry's immature, often thoughtless behavior does little to illuminate the pain of such a decision. Stern dishes out old-fashioned thinking in tepid prose: "Lisbeth was convinced that the right choice for Kerry was to give the baby up for adoption. She didn't want Kerry to compromise the rest of her life by being tied down with a baby at such a young age. She wouldn't be able to complete her education, or have a career. How many men would be attracted to her if she was saddled with a young child?" This antiquated attitude is meant to justify the troubling fact that the paternal grandparents are never informed that their dead son had a child. Such an omission will create within most readers a chilling distance from Kerry-a fatal flaw in a tale meant to tug heart strings. (Apr.)
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| $99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub |
Kevin Lyons
reviewed Change of Heart on October 06, 2020
Change of Heart
It's never easy to write about tragic and premature death. Many writers have tried, and have lost their footing, stumbling on the thin obstacles of sentimentality and bathos. The result is a feeling of manipulation on the part of the reader. I'm pleased to state that Ayelet Waldman navigates this topic with confidence and sensitivity, elevating this book of families unraveling with considerable aplomb.
Instead of focusing on the tragedy itself, which many lesser writers might do, she asks important questions about how we survive when our world collapses: where do we find refuge or sanctuary? In music and the arts? Children? Hard work? Each other? How do we experience meaning again...and what do we do to seek redemption?
Red Hook Road takes place in Maine, on the eve of a wedding between two mismatched families: the New York Copakens who have adopted Maine as their own and the Tetherlys, a local family of far lesser stature. In the first several pages, the dynamics are set up: each of these families will equally suffer an unbearable loss. The book is divided into four sections, representing four separate Fourth of July weekends; the first, second, and third anniversary of the tragedy. We learn more about each of the characters -- the mothers and fathers, the sister and brother, the world-renown violinist grandfather, and the Cambodian adoptee, Samantha, who just happens to be a musical genius.
Each of these characters is so authentic that he or she could walk off these pages. Each, in his or her own way, is a survivor. One character, Ruthie, muses: "Maybe, now more than ever some kind of statement was required, a refusal to submit to loss, to let it work its mischief on them. And maybe it was that kind of stubbornness in the face of grief...that could, in the end, redeem them all."
There is much to learn in this book about the human condition: love, marriage, loss, and survival. Red Hook Road is lyrical, beautifully paced, and a testimony to how we evolve and grow...even in the worst of times.
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