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Jamie's Reviews > The Girl with Three Birthdays: An Adopted Daughter's Memoir of Tiaras, Tough Truths, and Tall Tales
The Girl with Three Birthdays: An Adopted Daughter's Memoir of Tiaras, Tough Truths, and Tall Tales
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I suppose I should start out by saying that, while I don't know the author personally, her husband cleans my greyhound's teeth. I don't feel that this makes me a particularly biased reviewer (even if he is an excellent dog dentist), but do with that information what you will. I'd been seeing mentions of Patti's book on the vet clinic's Facebook page for a while and was super excited to see it pop up on NetGalley.
My tenuous connection to the author aside, however, I'm also an adoptive parent and so I was interested in reading about the experiences of an adoptee who grew up not all that far from where we currently live.
And, well, The Girl with Three Birthdays was an intriguing read. It's a quiet, meandering story, with stories of her childhood and parents' lives intertwined with the details of her adoption. Patti's story is both sweet and a little sad at the same time – it's obvious that she was loved dearly by both of her adoptive parents, but even happy adoption stories are unavoidably filled with some sense of loss.
I'm not really sure how you go about rating and reviewing a memoir as personal as this one, to be honest. I don't feel as if it's my place to judge someone else's personal experiences (except for you, Tucker Max – you totally deserved that one-star review). But I can say that it's well-written and the author and her family sound like wonderful people. Ted was a real jerk, though.
As a Michigander, I recognized lots of the places mentioned in this book, which was an interesting experience. There aren't a whole lot of books – memoirs, fiction, or otherwise – set in West and Mid-Michigan, so that was kind of fun. And, of course, seeing my hound's dentist repeatedly mentioned in a book was a new experience for me!
So, yeah. If you enjoy adoption memoirs, you'll likely enjoy this one. Definitely give it a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
My tenuous connection to the author aside, however, I'm also an adoptive parent and so I was interested in reading about the experiences of an adoptee who grew up not all that far from where we currently live.
And, well, The Girl with Three Birthdays was an intriguing read. It's a quiet, meandering story, with stories of her childhood and parents' lives intertwined with the details of her adoption. Patti's story is both sweet and a little sad at the same time – it's obvious that she was loved dearly by both of her adoptive parents, but even happy adoption stories are unavoidably filled with some sense of loss.
I'm not really sure how you go about rating and reviewing a memoir as personal as this one, to be honest. I don't feel as if it's my place to judge someone else's personal experiences (except for you, Tucker Max – you totally deserved that one-star review). But I can say that it's well-written and the author and her family sound like wonderful people. Ted was a real jerk, though.
As a Michigander, I recognized lots of the places mentioned in this book, which was an interesting experience. There aren't a whole lot of books – memoirs, fiction, or otherwise – set in West and Mid-Michigan, so that was kind of fun. And, of course, seeing my hound's dentist repeatedly mentioned in a book was a new experience for me!
So, yeah. If you enjoy adoption memoirs, you'll likely enjoy this one. Definitely give it a read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and She Writes Press for providing me with an advance copy of this book to review.
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Reading Progress
December 31, 2023
– Shelved
December 31, 2023
– Shelved as:
non-fiction
December 31, 2023
– Shelved as:
arcs-and-such
January 1, 2024
–
Started Reading
January 2, 2024
– Shelved as:
popsugar-challenge-2015
January 2, 2024
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-7 of 7 (7 new)
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Rain
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Jan 04, 2024 09:56AM
Aww you have a greyhound? I have a giant mastiff, and I’m always a little jealous the grace that greyhounds seem to have.
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Rain wrote: "Aww you have a greyhound? I have a giant mastiff, and I’m always a little jealous the grace that greyhounds seem to have."Aww, I love mastiffs - someday I'm going to own one of the giant breeds (but not right now, because my hound is terrified of any dog that isn't another greyhound 😀). They can definitely be graceful, especially when they're running, although mine was described as "goofy" in her adoption profile and it's pretty accurate. 🤣
Awww your sweet but shy doggie! Lol nothing wrong with goofy 😊
Rain wrote: "Awww your sweet but shy doggie! Lol nothing wrong with goofy 😊"Definitely not! 😄
You made my poor heart so swollen with your kind words, thank you. YOU are a very good writer. I don't know you or what you do for a living, but hopefully it is something which includes writing. I read your review to Jim and he had a big smile. Maybe you know greyhounds are pretty much his favorite dogs. We had one named Gabbi for many years and we miss her terribly. Thank you very much.
Patti wrote: "You made my poor heart so swollen with your kind words, thank you. YOU are a very good writer. I don't know you or what you do for a living, but hopefully it is something which includes writing. I ..."Patti - I just saw your comment (Goodreads is horrible about sending me notifications for some reason). Thank you for writing the book - I really enjoyed it and it was a great book to start off the new year with! And thank you so much for the compliment. I do write - I'm a freelancer and am currently (very very slowly!) working on a novel. Greyhounds are the best dogs! Such special and goofy animals. 🥰 Congrats on the soon-to-be-published novel and a big hello to Dr. Moore!
And I just saw this;) So Sorry. I'm glad I could recognize that you are talented. I will for sure tell Jim. Did you know I am working on a new memoir --about Jim and the clinic. Stay tuned.
