Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love (Large Print / Library Binding)
Staff Reviews
Dani Shapiro has been chronicling her family life in no less than five memoirs, including Devotion, which I’ve previously read. Shapiro struggled with her relationship with her parents, from her father’s depression to her mother’s personality disorder. Her relationship with her older half-sister was chilly; they just didn’t connect. So you can imagine how Shapiro felt when she took a DNA test and the results didn’t make sense. She’s reminded of a casual comment from her mother, that she was conceived in Philadelphia under not great circumstances. And it appears that all those folks who said she didn’t look Jewish might have been half correct, leading her down a rabbit hole of discovery and reflection. Inheritance is part of a growing library of stories inspired by DNA discovery which also reflect on our changing views of openness (for it) and eugenics (against it). A compelling story, artfully told.
— Daniel Goldin
Dani Shapiro is coming to Boswell for Inheritance on Tuesday, July 18, 2019, 7 pm, cosponsored by the Harry and Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center and the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies at UWM. Register for this free event at shapiromke.bpt.me or upgrade to registration with ticket.
— Boswell Book CompanyJanuary 2019 Indie Next List
“Who are we? Does who we think we are change when we learn a family secret that alters the source of our identity? Shapiro has explored issues of identity in her previous memoirs, but in her latest she applies her signature candor and heart to a riveting, provocative, and inspiring genealogical mystery and journey of discovery.”
— Roxanne Coady, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, CT
