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China Ghosts: My Daughter's Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood

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Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
List Price: $14.95
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Aching to expand from a couple to a family, Jeff Gammage—a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer—and his wife, Christine, embarked upon a journey that would carry them across a shifting landscape of emotion and through miles of red tape and bureaucratic protocol. On the other side of the world—in the smog-choked city of Changsha in Hunan Province—a silent, stoic little girl was waiting for them: Jin Yu, their new daughter. Now they would have to learn how to fully embrace a life altered beyond recognition by new concerns and responsibilities—and by a love unlike any they'd ever felt before.

Alive with insight and feeling, China Ghosts is an eye-opening depiction of the foreign adoption process and a remarkable glimpse into a different culture. Most important, it is a poignant, heartfelt, and intensely intimate chronicle of the making of a family.

DESCRIPTION:

Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780061240300
ISBN: 0061240303
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: 2008-07-01
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Release Date: 2008-06-24
Studio: Harper Perennial


SIMILAR ITEMS:

• Silent Tears: A Journey Of Hope In A Chinese Orphanage
• Found in China
• Three Names of Me
• Motherbridge of Love
• The Red Thread: An Adoption Fairy Tale


CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Customer Rating:
Summary: A Book That is Food For the Soul
Comment: Do not miss this book and the story of an extraordinary family
and their personal and heart-wrenching journey into China and
the adoption process. The narrative has stayed with me months
after reading it.I was impressed by the gut-level involvement,
emotionality and empathy of the father - something that is not
commonly revealed in American family life.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Well written but a little slow
Comment: The best part of this book is the picture on the front. That is actually the author's first adopted daughter. Her joy and exuberance is clear and very reassuring! I ordered this book b/c I am in the beginning stages of adoption from China. I was interested to know a man's perspective on the process. I really appreciated the honesty of the author's feelings in those first few days of fatherhood. It was lovely to know that this man was instantly smitten and completely devoted to his adopted daughter.

I was, however, hoping for more practical advice. As another reviewer said this book seems a bit more like a therapy session. The author went into detail about his obsession with his daughter's birth mother and his desire to find her. He also tended to go on about his views on fatherhood in general, not necessarily his feelings as the father of a Chinese child. (which is the aspect I was interested in).In fact, the author seems personally affronted when people ask him about how it feels to be a first time father to an adopted foreign child. It doesn't appear to be a subject he is interested in discussing.

Clearly, the author is a very proud papa and dotes on his girls. It's a touching story all in all. Just not a book to turn to for any real practical advice on adoption and the process in general.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Too Much of a Therapy Session
Comment: ­Gammage's vast experience as a newspaper reporter comes through with details facts along with the benefits of his feelings. However, he often seems to be using the writing as a therapy session to deal with some of his issues with adoption (his ghosts), China the USA, and religion. Because of this, the books seemed disjointed; a difficult style of story-telling to follow.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Okay, but cynical
Comment: As a father of an adopted daughter from China, I was looking forward to the author's views on his experience. The book does contain some keen observations, and a few interesting and emotional perspectives, but overall I felt the tone too cynical. Too often his expressions of the incredible love and joy of fatherhood were overshadowed by his pessimistic views on Chinese culture and government, his critical assessment of an individual's motives, and his personal insecurities. Perhaps his newspaper journalism background contributes to this distrustful viewpoint, but it detracts from enjoyment of the book.
As the author himself writes, his wife and daughter look to the bright sunny days of tomorrow, whereas he has a tendency to dwell on the dark days of the past. That accurately sums up the tone of the book as well.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Adoptive mother of 7
Comment: Jeff Gammage speaks of his newly adopted daughters with an honest clarity and loyal devotion. Refreshing and insighful testimony from a father's perspective on falling in love with parenthood. With extensive research and historical facts on Chinese history and culture throughout the book, it is a must read for every new parent waiting to adopt from China! As a mother to 7 children, 5 through foreign adoption, and an adoption website owner, and moderator of a military adoption support group, I found Jeff Gammage's book to be a light of hope and truth for the orphan child.
Barbara Burke
www.adoptionfamily.org

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