14 October 2005 A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE by Dana Reinhardt, Random House/Wendy Lamb, February 2006, ISBN: 0-385-74698-9; LIB. ISBN: 0-385-90940-3"So my free period found me in the gym leafing through pamphlets and scarfing down bite-sized Charleston Chews looking for some clubs to join because Mr. McAdams told me that if I don't 'diversify my resume' I won't get into a good college. The obvious choice for me would be to join the math club, but I don't even need to go into the reasons this will never happen, do I? I wandered around for almost forty-five minutes and was no closer to joining a club than I was when I arrived, although I did consume a staggering amount of bite-sized candy. It's not like I don't have interests. I like to write. I read a lot. I know almost everything there is to know about movies. I make my own T-shirts. I've always been fascinated by penguins, yet there doesn't seem to be a penguin club offering free Tootsie Pops. I guess there just isn't anything that defines me enough that I feel the need to make it official. It's like getting a tattoo. They're cool and I'd love to get one,once I come to terms with the fact that my parents would throw me out of the house, but I just can't come up with a symbol or a word or an image that says enough about who I am that I can live with it forever."I don't know about anybody else, but when I'm trying to read a couple of hundred books a year I have to accept that there isn't time to be sucked into viewing weekly installments of various current television shows. So I don't really pay attention to what's on, and haven't the faintest idea as to what is worth watching these days. But a decade ago I was totally hooked on the program that I expect remains the best and smartest show for adolescents to ever have graced the small screen.In fact, a couple of years back Shari and I had big plans to utilize the script from an episode of that exceptional but short-lived show, My So-Called Life, as a vehicle for Shari's Drama III students. (At least that was our plan until the District's [thankfully] former Superintendent apparently decided that a middle school presentation with the theme of "Questioning Authority" and a plot involving active and passionate student opposition to administration censorship struck too close to his right-wing sensibilities and so we received a directive that work on the play cease immediately.)One aspect of My So-Called Life that I consistently enjoyed was the Angela Chase internal monologues that were always insightful, entertaining, and spot on credible in terms of portraying the thoughts of a teenager. I was frequently reminded of that feeling in reading A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE, one of the smartest contemporary YAs I've encountered in a while."It was Halloween last night. Halloween is my favorite holiday of all time. It always has been, and not just because I'm a big fan of candy, especially in bite-size form. I think Halloween brings out the very best in humanity. We open our homes and give without expecting anything in return. It's really pretty amazing when you think about it. What other night do you talk to your neighbors and your neighbors' neighbors and other people's neighbors who just drove to your neighborhood because it seemed like a nice plae to knock in the doors of complete strangers? What other night do you not mind when your doorbell rings in the middle of dinner again and again and again? On most holidays we turn inward. We gather in our homes, we light fires, we spend time with our loved ones. But Halloween sends us out into the streets, into the cold, with people we don't know, running from stranger's house to stranger's house. And in wacky costumes!"She might not have the cleavage or the boy-related experiences of her lifelong friend Cleo, but high school student Simone Turner-Bloom is a bright young woman who has the love of the parents and younger brother who all look so different than she."It's not like I haven't spent hours or days or weeks or even years thinking about the fact that I'm adopted. My parents never try to hide it from me. Early on I understood that my straight dark hair, olive skin, lanky build, and left-handedness--all the things that make me different from my family, good and bad--come from my own mysterious genetic pool. A pool seems too small when you think about it. It really must be more like a sea or an ocean with an endless horizon. All that past--all the events that happened or didn't happen, all the weddings, births, deaths, secrets, triumphs, fighting and then making up or maybe not making up and then moving as far away as possible to get a new start--make us who we are. But I don't know any of these stories from my own oceanic past. I know only that all those events somehow dropped a baby at the feet of an idealistic young couple named Elsie Turner and Vince Bloom on an unseasonably snowy April day. And there I began my life as Simone Turner-Bloom."I've thought about this a lot, as you can see, but you might be surprised to know that I've never wanted to learn anything about my real family tree. In my mind I've cut down those branches and left a bare, solitary trunk. I know no details. Except for one, Her name: Rivka."But now Rivka has requested that Simone get in touch with her.The brilliant and beautiful A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE explores the circumstances by which Simone came to be adopted and reveals the effects on all those involved when the young woman gets in contact with and begins to know the birth mother who suddenly falls into her life after all these years. It is through that new knowledge of her previously-unknown oceanic past that Simone is forever transformed." 'I love Almond Joys,' I say. And there we have it. The first notable difference between us. 'I could take or leave the Peppermint Patties.' "A sweet debut for newbie LA author Dana Reinhardt, A BRIEF CHAPTER IN MY IMPOSSIBLE LIFE will be an early highlight of the spring YA season.Richie Partington, MLISRichie's Picks http://
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A Brief Chapter in my Impossible Life by Dana Reinhardt is the story of Simone, a high school junior in a suburb of Boston. Simone has known since she was able to understand words that she was adopted. Her mother is a lawyer with the ACLU and her father is a cartoonist who spends most of his time at home trying out new recipes on his family. Simone has never felt a reason to meet her birth mother. Her history is here with her mother, father, and brother who look nothing like her. Simone has accepted the fact that her biological family tree is bare until her birth mother shows up and completely sends her life in a different direction. Simone is bumping along through life - helping her mother canvas for the ACLU, joining the Atheist Student Club to protest a political issue she only just heard about yesterday and still barely understands, studying for SAT's, dating, partying - when she finds out that her birth mother, Rivka, is asking to meet. While gathering information for a school newspaper article she is writing, Simone learns the story of Rivka and the story of her adoption. This opens her up to meeting Rivka and trying to understand her better, which in turn leads to another bomb being dropped. Through this change, Simone starts to learn about who she is and she realizes that where she came from is a big part of where she is going. Her once bare family tree grows full of branches in seconds. It is just a matter of Simone looking around and appreciating the people and situations that have come across her path. This is a story of amazing family love and support and of taking all of the good and bad in one's life to create an identity for oneself. It is laced with acceptance, faith, and maybe a few PG anecdotes here and there. This book is obviously directed at young adults as the main character is in high school and deals with high school situations (parties, gossip, school social clubs, crushes) but I think it can span through several generations as the underlying theme is one that everyone deals with throughout his or her life. The humor and wit of the main character is not at all childish and Simone includes the reader in on her every thought throughout the story. It actually reads more like a diary which immediately pulled me in and kept me interested in the life of this teenager until the end of the book. This is Dana Reinhardt’s first book and she has done a great job at taking her readers through every emotion one can go through while reading this book. The thoughts and feelings of this teenager are very realistic, neither too dramatic nor filled with rainbows and butterflies. I felt exactly how Simone felt when she felt it and when the book was over, I was a little sad that I had lost a friend. I’m very excited to read anything else that Ms. Reinhardt puts out.
"This is just so unfair."Rivka laughs. "What's so funny?""Oh, I don't know. Nothing, really. It's just that I used to get hung up on thinking about fairness and why and why me and why now. And it just doesn't get you anywhere. It's like those questions you used to pester your parents with. Why? Why? Why? Finally they get fed up and say, 'Just because.' And that's the only real answer here. Just because."I fell in love with this book. Although I have never experienced adoption, I could feel Simon
—Meghan
Being adopted is not a problem for sixteen-year-old Simone. She has parents who love her and a younger brother who adores her. Someday she may want to know about her adoption. Someday there may be questions she'll want answered about her biological mother. Maybe she'll even want to meet her, but right now in her junior year at high school, Simone is happy with her life and family and wants nothing more than for things to remain the same.When Simone's birth mother Rivka asks to see her, she resists. Her parents try to appear as if they aren't pushing the meeting, but give Simone a phone number where Rivka can be reached and wait. Without being told why, Simone begins to realize that sometimes you don't have the option of putting things off.Simone's meeting with her young birth mother triggers questions about the importance of faith, family and tradition. While her adopted family and her friends remain steadfast, Simone finds room to extend her family to include Rivka, whose Judaism introduces Simone to another culture and whose roots extend back to Russia and the Orthodox Hasidic Jewish family from which Rivka is estranged.Simone is honest, full of questions about life and love, funny, and vulnerable. Her first person account is balanced but not overwhelmed by her daily life in prep school. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life is a touchingly intimate story with characters readers will want to meet again. Though Reinhardt doesn't provide a happily-ever-after ending, she does give a satisfying one to a well-told story.
—Lyn
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life, by Dana Reinhardt, is about a girl named Simone, who is adopted. Simone is happy with her life the way it is, so when her biological mother calls and says she wants to meet her, Simone refuses. During the next few chapters, Simone learns the pros and cons of calling her mother, and makes an important decision. Dana Reinhardt’s writing kept me engaged, but I think she could have made some parts of the book more interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a strong female lead because Simone is a very strong feminist. In my opinion, this author is very talented. I will continue to read books by her.
—Fifi Barash
