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A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
by Dani Shapiro
Book Reviewed by:A new memoir about identity, paternity, and family secrets--a real-time exploration of the staggering discovery Shapiro recently made about her father, and her struggle to piece together the hidden story of her own life.
What makes us who we are? What combination of memory, history, biology, experience, and that ineffable thing called the soul defines us?
In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father. She woke up one morning and her entire history--the life she had lived--crumbled beneath her.
Inheritance is a book about secrets--secrets within families, kept out of shame or self-protectiveness; secrets we keep from one another in the name of love. It is the story of a woman's urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity, a story that has been scrupulously hidden from her for more than fifty years, years she had spent writing brilliantly, and compulsively, on themes of identity and family history. It is a book about the extraordinary moment we live in--a moment in which science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover.
Timely and unforgettable, Dani Shapiro's memoir is a gripping, gut-wrenching exploration of genealogy, paternity, and love.
Shapiro explores the ethical and existential questions at the heart of her journey with sensitivity and nuance. A complex and multifaceted memoir, interwoven with history and full of feeling, Inheritance is sure to appeal to loyal fans of the author as well as readers new to her thoughtful work...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Michael Kaler).
Early on in Inheritance Dani Shapiro agrees to order a DNA test through Ancestry.com along with her husband after he suddenly becomes interested in genealogy. The results of Shapiro's kit happened to be life changing, upending everything the memoirist thought she knew about her family history. Her experience is extraordinary, but there are some important ethical and privacy-related concerns that one should take into account before signing up for a genealogical service.
Critics of genetic testing companies like Ancestry.com worry about the privacy of DNA test results. A recent study published in the journal Science has indicated that genetic databases currently allow for the identification of about 60% of white Americans from an anonymous...
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Andre Aciman, author of Call Me by Your Name
Identity is frail business, and in her searing story, Dani Shapiro makes the most disquieting discovery: that everything, from her lineage, to her father, down to her very own sense of self is an astounding error. How do we live with ourselves after finding we are not who we thought we were? The answer is not disquieting. It is beautiful.
