Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

After finishing the last page of Dani Shapiro’s INHERITANCE: A MEMOIR OF GENEALOGY, PATERNITY, AND LOVE, I wanted to take time to absorb what I had read. I’ve read and loved all her memoirs and I feel like this is her most stunning. The subject seems to be the most challenging, as far as a discovery and the path that it lead her on, the way in which she went about trying to find out what she needed to learn both about her subject and herself in order to write the book, and then, what she comes to understand about who she is in the process. Dani digs deep, as she always does in her books. Her writing, eloquent, as always, is also moving, has a conversational tone at times, open, easy. I was taken with her words. I felt them. Mostly her references to her childhood memories, and the Hebrew and religious moments that brought her back to her father. Not, that he ever left her.Dani discovers, almost by accident, after her half-sister, mentions that she might want to take a DNA test, that their father is not her biological father. She is 54 when she learns this news. Looking back, there have been numerous hints over the course of her life, that she never pursued, that indicated that this might have been the case, but she never had reason to explore or question if her father was indeed her biological father. After all, she loved him. And, this is not something that occurs to most people. Even if she felt that she didn’t belong, in the sense of feeling different or looking different, her father was her person and her family, her people.What she pieces together, along with the help of her husband, other members of her remaining extended family, and elderly friends of her long-deceased father, is remarkable.I cried so often over the course of reading the book. For Dani's memory and what it would become or how it would be altered and for her love of a man who seemed bigger than life both during the time that he was alive and long after he died. For her caring, loving, and insightful elderly aunt who summed up Dani’s existence and place in their family with words that any person, lost or otherwise, deserves to hear and her display of true love that I hope envelop her for the rest of her years. For the miracle of science and social media, despite its weaknesses, how it can bring people together in ways we could never have imagined.INHERITANCE is the experience of family dynamics, medical ethics, the culture of Orthodox Judaism, the wonder of memory, and complicated grief.

Readable and an interesting conundrum for the author. A little too much repetitiveness as though she were trying to elongate the book, but enjoyable.

Having just finished a novel by Dani Shapiro for a book group at our local bookstore and not being impressed, I decided to give Inheritance a try. Her writing is brilliant, story telling captivating, emotion raw and at the same time I learned and found myself in the narrative. No, I have no experience with insemination, my Ancestry.com shows I am 99.5 percent Irish, etc. But Dani shares so deeply about family and life that everyone can relate. I could not put this book down and send thanks to Ms Shapiro for this gift.

Long ago I read a quote in a fortune cookie that advised us not to be like the potato, with all of its good underground. ( rather ironic since ancestry worship is an important part of Chinese culture) Anyway, my own upbringing was centered on our nuclear family, with little interaction with distant relatives. In Dani Shapiro’s world of Orthodox Judaism reverence for those who came before was of profound importance. The author was brought up on stories of her Eastern European roots and pride in the leaders who came from within her family. Now a successful author, wife and mother she takes a popular DNA test at her husband’s suggestion and her whole world is turned upside down. The results show she is only half Ashkenazi Jew and the other half a mix of Western European stock. The book becomes a fascinating mystery story as she and her investigative reporter husband untangle the clues and track down her biological father.That aspect of the book I enjoyed immensely. What I found hard to relate to was the trauma she felt at having to face the possibility that she wasn’t who she thought she was. I have never been a DAR, FFV kind of person. I never pursued my family genealogy nor dwelled on the absence of stories gathered from my parents. Our family philosophy has always been you make your own destiny. As the book unfolded, it was clear that the author had deep-seated issues that arose from her parents’ dysfunctional marriage. It was this that drove her lifelong sense of not belonging and not whether she was “really” Jewish. Frankly I found her incessant whining to be rather annoying.She is a well-regarded author with many memoirs to her credit, so you might find this book diverting. To me it smacked of navel gazing, despite the fact she finally came to her senses and felt some gratitude to both fathers in her life.

Shapiro’s memoir is as compulsive as reading any great mystery. She tells the story of a staggering family secret that she discovered through a random DNA test. A secret that ripped her life apart. Her honesty and her exquisite prose grab the reader’s heart. This true story will make readers contemplate their own identity and their belief of what makes one a parent and what makes a family, as well as explore what should and should not be kept secret. So many will identify with her story, in one form or another.

Se hubiera tratado de una dinastia real o historica, todavia, pero no es asi....

A book that really makes you think. It was another gem from Dani Shapiro.Highly recommended for your summer reading list.

What a riveting read, and such a well written book. Straight from the heart. Very enjoyable and part of me didn’t want to read the next part incase of heartbreak and the other half of me couldn’t wait to find the conclusion. Would definitely recommend

The most wonderful thing about reading Dani Shapiro, is how it feels as if I have just met a friend for coffee and we are sharing the most wonderful, interesting and thought provoking conversation - (of course being the very best kind of conversation to have shared!) - that has now stretched into the evening hours over a leisurely glass of wine.The writing, the thinking the emotional draw of the narrative makes one feel as if you are indeed sitting right next to each other.I enjoyed everything about this book, (as I expected to) from the unfolding of the story and its reflections, to the lovely picture of the author on the book jacket that conveyed the smile of a genuine soul, I felt blessed to have shared some time with. ♥

What an amazing twist to Natur vs Nurture. It moved me immensely. The emotional intelligence of the all the people involved in this journey has been heart warming to see. Can't imagine what everyone went through. Bless their hearts. And may her parents rest in peace.