Review: All You Can Ever Know (ARC)
ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW, a memoir by Nicole Chung tells the story of a girl born to Korean parents and adopted by a white family. This book releases in October, but I was able to receive an ARC at the LA Times Festival of Books.
I was excited to read this book, as I've lately become more interested in issues surrounding transracial adoption, due to exposure to adoptees that have raised my awareness. Nicole Chung speaks honestly about her experience, acknowledging that her adoption involved loss - loss of culture, language, family members, and knowledge of family history. She discusses the challenges of being raised in a white community and being picked on by people at school for being different. She even encountered microaggressions from members of her own family.
Nicole Chung is passionate about presenting adopted people as more than just a powerless commodity - she stresses voice and agency. As she grows up, she exercises her own agency as she set out to find her biological parents and makes decisions about whom to let into her life and when.
I recommend this book to anyone interested in the complexities of transracial adoption, identity, and family. As someone who will probably decide to adopt a child, this book helped me be thoughtful about various aspects to consider. I could not put this book down, and finished it in one sitting!