"If you get a fat letter, it means you've been accepted. If you get a thin letter, forget it."
Natalie Armstrong is about to graduate from high school. The year is 1977. Before she begins college, Natalie wants to search for her biological mother. She loves, loves, loves her parents. Her father is a doctor, and she wants to be one too. Her mother is wonderful kind of crazy. Her younger sister, Nancy, is a true friend. She's not wanting to find her mother out of emptiness or loneliness. Not really. But the need to know her mother, her mother's story, is strong.
Her parents gift her--for graduation--a box with all the information they have on her adoption. Her grandmother gifts her with correspondence. (Letters from her mother to Natalie's grandmother).
Where will her journey take her?
My thoughts: I enjoyed this one very much. It is a thoughtful character-driven novel. I loved spending time with Natalie and her family. My two favorite characters were Natalie and her grandmother, Tallie. I especially loved their conversations together. I also love how it captures the promise and potential of that time of life. Everything is in a state of change, the only thing certain is that one door has closed forever.
"Sometimes we have to hurt people, in order to keep ourselves whole. We must just do it with love, that's all."
"That doesn't make much sense to me," admitted Natalie.
"Where is it written that anything has to make sense? All I mean is that when you have to hurt someone you love, do it honestly. And you're doing that. You could have sneaked around and done what you're doing. It would have been more difficult, of course, but you could have done it, Natalie. And you didn't. You told them exactly what you were doing. And it hurt, but they know you love them." (63)
© 2018 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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