false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171656583m/112296.jpg 112296 5 <I>The Lost Daughters of China</I> is that rare book that can be many things to different people. Part memoir, part travelogue, part East-West cultural commentary, and part adoption how-to, Karin Evans's book is greater than the sum of its parts. Evans weaves together her experience of adopting a Chinese infant with observations about Chinese women's history and that country's restrictive, if unevenly enforced, reproductive policies. She and her husband adopted Kelly Xiao Yu in 1997, and anyone curious about adopting from a Chinese orphanage--which houses girls and disabled boys--will learn about the mechanics and the emotional freight of the two-year process. Borrowing an image from Chinese folklore, Evans conveys herself, her husband, and their daughter as tethered by a red string that yoked them across an ocean and an equally awesome cultural divide. <p> The elegant prose is spiced with bits of ironic cultural dissonance. A discount shopper, Evans "felt more than a little strange buying China-made [baby] clothes with which to bundle up a tiny baby, one of China's own, and bring her home." On a bus tour through southern China, she is one of a "bunch of Americans with Chinese infants singing 'Que Sera Sera' in the middle of a sea of traffic. Will she be happy? Will she be rich?" To suddenly hear Doris Day over the horns of a Kowloon traffic jam is heady stuff indeed. <p> <I>The Lost Daughters of China</I> is at its best when describing Evans's tally of emotional loss and gain. At one point the bureaucratic adoption process is unaccountably delayed, but her father dies during that time and she's able to sit by his bedside. The most mysterious example of this emotional calculus is Kelly's birth mother. Evans invents many plausible scenarios that caused this unknown woman to abandon her three-month-old daughter at a market. These incomplete, necessarily provisional stories help give a face to the larger cultural processes that compel new parents to abandon 1.7 million girl babies annually. The stuff of headlines--human rights, infanticide, rural and urban poverty--is rendered personally relevant in Evans's compelling book. <I>--Kathi Inman Berens</I> 2945780 2000 The Lost Daughters of China total:298|5:85|4:122|3:67|2:19|1:5| 298 1157 432 68 3 2 false false Sun Feb 10 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Jan 24 19:22:53 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 10 08:51:41 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false true Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Jan 25 08:10:46 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 25 08:14:24 -0800 2008
One of th...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jun 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 13 06:50:35 -0700 2009 Wed Jun 24 08:11:45 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 09:14:15 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 13:01:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Fri May 23 15:31:48 -0700 2008 Fri May 23 15:39:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Apr 17 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Tue Jan 27 17:59:27 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 18:11:18 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 09:44:34 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 09:45:56 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 21 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 14:34:30 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 23 15:13:05 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Nov 04 23:14:18 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 23:15:53 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Sun Apr 05 18:51:54 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 18:55:22 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sun Sep 21 17:58:12 -0700 2008 Sun Sep 21 18:03:00 -0700 2008 4
This book clearly explains the historical background and cultural perspectives that lead to the abandonment of baby girls in China, and what the adoption process en...more...]]> 2 0 false false Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Tue Dec 30 06:37:58 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 06:40:31 -0800 2008 3 0 false false Sat May 02 08:00:01 -0700 2009 Sat May 02 08:01:02 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Mon Nov 24 12:53:23 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 24 12:55:16 -0800 2008 4 0 true false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Apr 08 12:55:16 -0700 2007 Sun Apr 08 12:58:55 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 12 17:18:48 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 12 17:19:35 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Wed Jan 09 16:54:56 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 09 18:31:00 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Jan 24 14:26:59 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 24 14:28:08 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Mar 13 04:51:19 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 13 04:52:09 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon May 14 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Nov 22 10:19:28 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 10:20:06 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=112296