Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro, 3.5 Stars

[Holly R W]

"Inheritance" is Dani Shapiro's newest memoir. She has already examined other aspects of her life in past books. In this one, she looks at her thoughts and feelings connected with discovering that she was conceived through artificial insemination. Dani is 54 years old when she decides to have her DNA tested through Ancestry.Com and she learns that she does not share genetic material with her father, Paul. This prompts her to go on a search for the truth about who her birth father is and how exactly this happened. She tries to imagine too, what her parents (who raised her) thought about the insemination treatments which led to her birth. Her first reactions to the news are shock and disbelief. Throughout the course of the year that follows, Dani comes to an acceptance of herself and of the complications of artificial insemination.

I was not as absorbed in the book, as I would have thought. Part of me thinks that this is a personal matter that did not need to be put into a memoir. The gold nuggets of the book for me had to do with Dani's descriptions of her father, Paul, and his very wise sister, Shirley. I loved how Shirley responds to Dani, when Dani explains to her aunt that Dani's DNA is not the same as the family's. They are not biologically related to each other. Without missing a beat, Shirley tells Dani, "I'm not giving you up!"

Similarly, a rabbi tells Dani, 'You can say, "This is impossible, terrible." Or, you can say, "This is beautiful, wonderful... You can imagine that you're in exile. Or, you can imagine that you have more than one home."

This book contains a cautionary tale about unintended consequences of earlier actions. It also presents the challenges generated by sites like Ancestry.com, which promote analysis of participants' genetic material. We are living in what used to be called, "the brave new world."

Rating: 3.5 stars