A Review of Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related. A Memoir, by Jenny Heijun Wills (McClelland & Stewart, 2019)

This book hit me in the gut. Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related by Jenny Heijun Wills is a poetic, edgy, sad, and ultimately hopeful memoir about gender, ethnicity, and skin colour.

Wills was adopted from Korea as a baby by white parents, who shortly afterwards gave birth to another daughter. Once she was old enough, Wills returned to South Korea to find her birth family. Her journey to find an identity and a family for herself unfolds throughout the book.

The books I read as a child ro...