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beaniebookbagel 's review for:
All You Can Ever Know
by Nicole Chung
There's a lot of ink spilled in the lit-o-sphere over the courage it takes to tell your personal story, so much that it's a kind of cliche. Too bad! I'm going to say it: This story is brave. ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW is a courageous, beautiful book that deserves all the accolades it's going to get.
If you've encountered Nicole Chung's writing before, then you know what to expect. If you haven't read one of her essays before, you're in for a treat: Clear, elegant, prose. Beautiful but efficient. No words wasted; each and every one important (further testament to Chung's skill as an editor, too).
Writing about your family is very, very hard, especially when you know they're going to read what you've written. It's also hard to choose which parts of a complex, nuanced experience to shape into narrative without getting bogged down, and Nicole nails it. The places she dwells (her childhood and her pregnancy & birth story, especially) are rich.
I learned a lot, too. There's no "typical" adoption story, but ALL WE CAN EVER KNOW illuminated aspects of the process that had never occurred to me before. I feel so much better prepared to listen to the stories of folks who were and how to not make harmful assumptions. For that, I'm grateful. This is a book I'm going to think about for a long time, and I can't wait to catch Nicole on tour to hear her discuss it.
If you've encountered Nicole Chung's writing before, then you know what to expect. If you haven't read one of her essays before, you're in for a treat: Clear, elegant, prose. Beautiful but efficient. No words wasted; each and every one important (further testament to Chung's skill as an editor, too).
Writing about your family is very, very hard, especially when you know they're going to read what you've written. It's also hard to choose which parts of a complex, nuanced experience to shape into narrative without getting bogged down, and Nicole nails it. The places she dwells (her childhood and her pregnancy & birth story, especially) are rich.
I learned a lot, too. There's no "typical" adoption story, but ALL WE CAN EVER KNOW illuminated aspects of the process that had never occurred to me before. I feel so much better prepared to listen to the stories of folks who were and how to not make harmful assumptions. For that, I'm grateful. This is a book I'm going to think about for a long time, and I can't wait to catch Nicole on tour to hear her discuss it.