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Sunlight On My Shadow: A Birth Mother's Journey From Secrecy To Renewal (2013)

by Judy Liautaud(Favorite Author)

3.8 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1883841178 (ISBN13: 9781883841171)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

City Creek Press

review 1: Some of the reviews on this book were negative because people felt it was too clinical or felt like reading a journal or a diary. I did not find it that way at all. It is a "memoir", it is supposed to be from the one-sided viewpoint of the writer. The subject matter is extremely painful. She was a sixteen year old pregnant CATHOLIC teenager in 1967 whose father decided the best option was to send her away to a home for unwed mothers until the baby was born, give the baby up for adoption and never speak of the matter again. Talk about recipe for disaster. Writing the memoir follows the mother through the years as she struggles with the decisions that were made for her, the faith that she lost in the teachings of the Catholic church, the relationship she has with her d... moreaughters, and the search for the child she gave up for adoption. I read this whole book with a lump in my throat. I don't know if I would recommend it to folks that have been through this or not, it is a very personal matter. I was a pregnant teenager in the 80's. A very different time indeed, although the Catholic church was still Neanderthal in their handling of me and my pregnancy. I raised my son, and although he is not the adult I dreamed he would be, at least I know who and where he is.
review 2: This book brought back the way it really was in the 60's if you were a good girl who got in trouble. The first 2 chapters really drug me back to a time when if this happened to you, your choices were 1) marry the father; 2) if your parents were well off they flew you to a country where abortion was legal and you had a sterile abortion by a medically trained expert; 3) if it was against your religion or your parents couldn't afford #2 above, then you were sent away to a home for unwed mothers where they usually strongly recommended you give your baby up for adoption or 4)if you were poor or scared to tell you parents because you knew what would happen, you went to a back ally abortionist where attempted abortions were given on kitchen tables by untrained people with unsterile equipment such as kitchen knives and hangers and if you didn't die on that kitchen table you probably died in a few days from either bleeding to death slowly or infection and if you survived that, many had so much scar tissue they could never conceive again and the final option was that you had your baby and you were shunned by the town completely, you couldn't go back to school because you were a bad influence on the students and you could only get a minimum wage job because you had no education and no experience. Far cry from the way it is today where girls get pregnant, go to school pregnant and have day care provided by the schools. This book should really be read by most every young woman so they know how it used to be. less

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