Family Family: A Novel

A poignant look at what makes a family, family. The protagonist at the center of it all, India, was probably my least favorite in the long cast of characters, because she was so self-absorbed as an actor pursuing her destiny. Her decisions were hers, but she really didn’t take into account others. She was later able to see consequences, because her family helped her see there were others, themselves, who mattered. Interesting during this time in our county, as so many choices have been impacted.

India has created a wild web, that not until the end do you fully understand. At the completion of the book I felt the story itself was fantastic, current and creating such deep thinking while reading. Why people make the choices they do, and how the life we create is almost never as easy as it seems. However, the book felt difficult to follow at times. The who is who and how is this web so tricky. I felt that I perhaps would not recommend this book as it did not jump out as one of my favorites as of late.

In “Family Family,” Laurie Frankel (“This is How it Always is) uses her experience with adoption to promote a feel-good, happy-go-lucky adoption story. “Not all stories of adoption are stories of pain and regret. Not even most of them. Why don’t we ever get that movie?” Renowned actress India Allwood, star of the hit television series “Val Halla,” has recently finished filming “Flower Child,” a movie depicting the story of a troubled, drug-addicted couple whose child becomes a ward of the state. Chaos ensues when India publicly criticizes the film. Her outspoken views on adoption, which challenge the notion that adoption is solely about abandonment, grief, trauma, and loss, ignite a media frenzy. India finds herself contending with accusations from the press and paparazzi, angering everyone from pro-life, to pro-choice, to adoption advocates. This leads to the disclosure of her past, which included placing her children up for adoption: first at age sixteen and again at twenty. Despite her past decisions, India later becomes a single mother by choice. She adopts four-year-old twins, Fig and Jack, after their mentally-ill biological mother almost burns them alive. Now, ten-year-old Fig takes matters into her own hands to support her mother India by reaching out to India’s biological children to help save the day. “Family Family,” at its core, challenges traditional notions of family and its appearance. India and her unconventional family show that adoption stories are not always tragic. Adoption can be about joy and belonging, safety and security, and love and tenderness. “Regardless of how they get made, family is a force to be reckoned with.” Frankel’s witticisms abound throughout the novel and add to its charm. A proper rebuttal to any argument was “to have two buts. One objection wasn’t going to convince anyone.” The novel's use of parallel reveals and cliffhanger chapter endings creates an exciting and suspenseful narrative. Frankel hits the ball out of the park when she defines motherhood as "solving impossible-to-solve problems while also experiencing deep crises of faith while also being kind of annoyed while also never getting enough rest." While Frankel’s real story of adoption and her child’s transition from male at birth to female is an incredible story of bravery and courage, I felt this novel was a little to blithe. Both Fig and Jack watched their biological mother set the car on fire with them inside. Fig, suffers PTSD from the traumatic event, but Jack is indifferent. India has a carefree attitude about her pregnancies and throughout the adoption process. I admire India’s perseverance, overcoming obstacles like pregnancy and relationships to achieve her dream of becoming a successful actress. She is adamant on the correct terminology of “placing” a child for adoption versus “giving up” a child. Career driven and focused, she ends her relationships with Robbie (at sixteen) and Davis (at twenty) after the birth and adoption of their children. India is courageous, strong-willed, and determined, and her character’s strength is a refreshing take on contemporary romance. Yet I found her character’s attitude on life offensively cheery. Her actions and consequences never have an effect on her being. She is written as a superwoman who is indifferent to heartache and sadness, and I found myself unable to relate to her character’s personality. Despite the endlessly cheerful tone, without much strife, I found myself wanting to carry around makeshift confetti made out of index cards to celebrate the little and big moments in life. Rating 4/5

“What about adoption stories that aren’t tragedies? Not all stories of adoption are stories of pain and regret. Not even most of them. Why don’t we get that movie?...There are lots of ways to make a family. Suggesting yours is tragic unless everyone's blood related isn’t serving anyone…Everyone needs their stories told, and not just told, celebrated.” When India had a baby she placed for adoption her senior year of high school and another baby she also placed for adoption her senior year of college, she never imagined that twelve years later she would find herself “on top of a pointless, groundless, career-ending scandal” piled on with her biological daughter and adoptive single mother, her biological son and adoptive fathers, and her ex-boyfriends. But “One thing family is famous for is giving unsolicited advice, telling you things you’d rather not hear but need to, providing the perspective only the people who’ve known you best and longest can. A member of mine offered words of wisdom…that I think were all of the above: first love…Not first love. First…love. Like with a comma in between.” In the words of 1 John 4:19, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” It’s all about the comma and it’s all about what comes first. “Like that’s how we should decide. That’s what we should do first: love...They say you never forget your first love…Maybe it’s so you can find your way back.” “Family begets family…families come in all kinds, varied as leaves…we aren’t just a different kind of family. We’re also the same kind of family…And our family is beyond explanation…Not ‘beyond explanation’ like it’s unclear…beyond explanation’ like the explanation is just the beginning. We are beyond explanation, well beyond, out in the open ocean, out among the stars.” Laurie Frankel’s Family Family is an index card confetti toast “to being beyond explanation.”