by Dani Shapiro.
Shapiro is a gifted memoirist and as such, has examined her life in great detail and written numerous books about it. When she casually takes a DNA test as a favor to her husband, the shocking results explode her concept of who she is and how she fits into her family’s history.
Raised by Orthodox Jewish parents, her family exults in their distinguished rabbinic history. Then the DNA test reveals that Dani’s beloved late father was not her biological parent. Thanks to her husband’s keen journalistic research, the couple quickly discovers that Dani was conceived by donor insemination in the early 60’s when the process was still relatively new. Her biological father was probably a medical student at a nearby university.
While continuing to track down the donor, Dani grapples with uncertainty. What did her parents know? Did they really give their “informed consent”? Were they puppets of a medical system that kept them deliberately in the dark? Or was her father manipulated by her narcissistic, controlling mother who wanted a child at any cost?
She interviews her father's elderly sister and the family's rabbi trying to learn "the truth". She tracks down doctors who were aware of or worked at the clinic to recreate the environment in which life altering decisions were made.
She struggles to discern what the revelations mean to her own self-view. Eventually identifying the sperm donor and meeting with him reshapes her life.
A sensitive and compelling look at one of the kinds of secrets DNA testing can reveal.
Highly recommended reading. Order it from your local library HERE.
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