In a roomful of family, it can be difficult to not see your resemblance in your family members. That is the trauma that Marylee MacDonald describes in Surrender, her deeply personal account of the adoption experience. She relates her memoir from two perspectives: first that of her story as an adopted child and then later on as a 16-year-old birth mother who gives up her baby for adoption.
This background gives her unique ability to break down the psychology that adoption plays in a child's psyche. She cites studies on adoptions and its effects on children to compel her story forward.
The story starts in the present with an upcoming move from the Chicago area to Arizona. She then goes back and forth between detailing her search to find her adopted son and her own struggles with her adoptive family. MacDonald's writing is compelling, the chapters are concise and fast paced. I do wish though there had been a little more development and that the flow was more linear rather than bouncing between timelines.
This background gives her unique ability to break down the psychology that adoption plays in a child's psyche. She cites studies on adoptions and its effects on children to compel her story forward.
The story starts in the present with an upcoming move from the Chicago area to Arizona. She then goes back and forth between detailing her search to find her adopted son and her own struggles with her adoptive family. MacDonald's writing is compelling, the chapters are concise and fast paced. I do wish though there had been a little more development and that the flow was more linear rather than bouncing between timelines.