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Loading... One Big Happy Family: 18 Writers Talk About Open Adoption, Mixed Marriage, Polyamory, Househusbandry, Single Motherhood, and Other Realities of Truly Modern Love (2009)by Rebecca Walker
Penguin Random House (353) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. An eclectic collection about what family means in this ever-changing world. ( ) Wow, why haven't I heard of this book before? I'm poly, and subscribe to some mailing lists about it. But I found it by looking at my library's 'theme of the month' display. So cool. Well, not cool exactly. Kinda boring, actually. But I guess that's the point - no matter what the shape of your family, the bottom line is love & a negotiation of identities in the relationships. I'm sure this would be excellently reassuring to those with doubts as they wonder if a second divorce, or a second lover, or another child, is the right choice for them. It might be even more reassuring to those who have made a choice, and are feeling like they made the wrong one, and are trying to cope & salvage & reawaken joy. So, the rating reflects *my* appreciation, not my opinion of the value of the book. This is a great collection of entertaining and enlightening personal essays by people whose family lives just don't quite fit the mold. And that's the point. Real lives don't fit into some mold--the white, suburban, nuclear family--impressed upon the popular imagination by 1950s television. Real people make their own rules as they cope with the challenges of modern life and seek out their own happiness and means of support. Differences in race, class, and other social dynamics make love and child-rearing less straight-forward than ever. People have a tendency to judge how we conduct ourselves, even when they are no more "normal" than we are. I highly recommend this as inspirational reading to anyone who feels like they don't fit in because their home life or relationship style is different from the norm. I also recommend this to anyone who doesn't understand why so many personal profiles say "it's complicated". no reviews | add a review
"Edited by bestselling author Rebecca Walker, this anthology invites us to step into the center of a range of different domestic arrangements and take a good look around. From gay adoption to absentee fathers, from open marriages to green-card marriages, the reality of the American household has altered dramatically over the last three decades. With changing values and expectations, fluid gender roles, and a shifting economy, along with increase in infertility, adoption, and the incidence of mixed-race couples, people across the country are redefining the standard arrangement of family life. In a collection of eighteen honest, personal, and deeply affecting essays from an array of writers, One Big Happy Family offers a fresh look at how contemporary families are adapting to this altering reality." ... from Publisher's Description. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)306.850973Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Culture and Institutions Marriage and Parenting Family Biography And History North America United StatesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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