My publicist at Seal Press, Eva Zimmerman, forwarded me this advance review of Mamalita from Kirkus Reviews. The Mamalita publication date is November 1, 2010. To order your advance copy, click on the “Book” tab on the Mamalita site.
From Kirkus Reviews:
“‘I’ve never given birth,’ writes O’Dwyer, ‘but I know the exact moment when I became a mother: 10:00A.M., September 6, 2002’—the moment she and her husband sat in a hotel lobby, awaiting the infant girl they hoped to adopt. Yet this celebratory moment was soon overshadowed by the corrupt Guatemalan adoption system. The author recounts her initial naiveté, how she and her husband shelled out vast amounts of money to adoption facilitators and notarios in order to assist them in wading through the red tape of a foreign adoption. Yet nearly two years and thousands of dollars later, O’Dwyer and her husband remained no closer to their goal. Rather than continue her transcontinental flights, the author quit her job and moved to Antigua to focus on her daughter’s adoption full time. This decision led her into the dark side of adoption, a seedy terrain in which she was forced to weave through the barbs of a system set up to exploit the most money and resources from potential parents. Armed only with her elementary-level Spanish, she was forced to rely on a small band of trustworthy Guatemalan officials and potential American mothers struggling through the same experience. Her obsessive quest was constantly hampered by paperwork, signatures, DNA tests and countless other bureaucratic pitfalls. But despite the tragic circumstances, the optimistic author tells a hopeful tale in which she viewed every procedural misstep as a step leading her closer to her daughter.”
“A scathing critique on a foreign adoption system and the harrowing account of one woman’s attempt to fight it.”
—Kirkus Reviews
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ShareThisTags: adoption memoir, Antigua Guatemala, Book Passage Corte Madera, corruption in adoption, Debut memoir, fostering in Antigua, Guatemala adoption, international adoption, international adoption controversy, Jessica O'Dwyer, Kirkus Reviews, Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir
Excellent! Can’t wait to read your book!
wow, Jessica! A good review in Kirkus is a very big deal. Congratulations.
YOu deserve this, Jessica. I’m thrilled for you.
Thank you, Cindy and Jennifer. A great feeling when someone unknown to me ¨gets it¨!
Joyce: A thousand thanks will never be enough for all you´ve taught me, in California and in Guatemala. Grateful forever.
Great review, Jessica. If I had any hesitations about buying your book, that would definitely push me over the edge. Well done, I’m so pleased for you.
Thanks, Claire. You’ll be right behind me.!
Jessica, can’t wait to read your story – you’re an inspiration for us all!
the review speaks clearly indicating the precise writing ability to portray your heartfelt experience of motherhood through the channels you chose to explore and as the review says “fight.”
Kim: Thank you for your kind words. You inspire me.
Cynthia: Don’t know why the process needs to be so fraught, but it is too often. Of course, worth it in the end!n
Jessica — This is a fantastic review for an even more fantastic book. You have spoken for so many parents. We “owe you.”
Thanks — and congratulations!
Greta, the fact that another adoptive parent relates to our story makes me happy beyond words. Thanks again for reading the ms. Con mucho carino.