Barbara Delinsky Reading Group and Q&A discussion
prejudice
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I thought the handling of the issue of race and belonging was handled beautifully, and I actually cried. My great, great grandmother was able to "pass" but chose not to once she became an adult. She had great pride in her blackness (although she had toffee colored hair and blue eyes and snowy skin), and I think she could chosen a different path, one that could have resulted in a child born a few generations down much like the newborn baby in this book -- one that would cause a lot of questions. Race is such a "hot topic" and yet isn't discussed. It was nice reading a modern novel that addressed race and acceptance.
I may surprise you all here, but I don't see FAMILY TREE first and foremost as a book about race. I see it as being about how we see ourselves and what happens when that perception differs from reality. Hugh's father Eaton reacted one way, Ellie Jo another, and the Senator different again. All of these people (Corinne, too) had a public face and a private face.
No, Amy, I don't see myself as having grown up in an atmosphere of racism and prejudice -- though there were places I couldn't go and groups I couldn't join because I was a Jew. Nor do I see New England as being a hotbed of bigotry. To the contrary. Part of the inspiration for my writing FAMILY TREE was seeing so many biracial families in my local supermarket and realizing how far we've come.
That said, there remain narrow-minded people everywhere in the world -- people who fear those who are different and would rather be with people like themselves. This is a sad fact of life. I like to think that as our worlds broaden -- as more babies like Lizzie are born -- this will end.
So here's a question. What do you think Eaton is going to do, at the end of FAMILY TREE, with the new knowledge he has about his family and himself?
No, Amy, I don't see myself as having grown up in an atmosphere of racism and prejudice -- though there were places I couldn't go and groups I couldn't join because I was a Jew. Nor do I see New England as being a hotbed of bigotry. To the contrary. Part of the inspiration for my writing FAMILY TREE was seeing so many biracial families in my local supermarket and realizing how far we've come.
That said, there remain narrow-minded people everywhere in the world -- people who fear those who are different and would rather be with people like themselves. This is a sad fact of life. I like to think that as our worlds broaden -- as more babies like Lizzie are born -- this will end.
So here's a question. What do you think Eaton is going to do, at the end of FAMILY TREE, with the new knowledge he has about his family and himself?


I briefly entertained the idea that he went ahead with publishing under the current form, but in a year when the paperback comes out they use the "new and updated! shocking new chapter!" type of sales pitch.
I don't know what's really plausible for the publishing industry (can you yank a book off the press at such a late stage? cancel all the signings? can you knowing publish something as "non-fiction" with errors? -- here I am reminded of "A Million Little Pieces").
I have my own suspicions, but let's wait so see if anyone else gives it a shot before I tell mine!
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.

I read Family Tree and was very captivated by the novel. I do have a questions about where the idea came for this specific storyline.
I am in an interracial marriage and had a really hard time with the fact that the characters in the novel where so aghast about/terrified of african american genes being part of their bloodline. Even friends of the main couple had a hard time with it. I realize that in certain parts of the country, racism still exists rampantly, but I guess it really is about people from another slice of life, b/c all the people I know wouldn't have reacted as terribly.
Growing up, were you surrounded by prejudice and racism, and did those experiences help set the tone for the novel?