Make Me a Mother: A Memoir
Antonetta (A Mind Apart, 2005) writes so eloquently about love that her feelings resonate deep within the reader’s heart. She seems, at first, to almost be apologizing for adopting a child. As if anyone needs an explanation. And it is clear that she would—and does—welcome this ultimate responsibility on a visceral level. Is anyone more or less a mother whether she comes to the role biologically or via adoption? Can our child be any more or less ours because of an accident of DNA? A wonderful takeaway here is Antonetta’s view of the universal village it takes to raise our children. She and her husband, Bruce, were first set to adopt an American, then switched to expecting a Chinese child. And then, with nary a moment’s doubt, when no Chinese child was available, they welcomed their South Korean infant son with open arms. One only wonders what Jin, now a teenager, thinks of this deconstruction of his life so far. But then he might be used to it. After all, his mom is a writer. --Donna Chavez