Really enjoyed asha bandele's contribution on having and raising a child whose other parent was and is incarcerated as well as Rebecca Barry's closing essay on building rambling extended family connections in a rambling old house. I was a bit disappointed by the collection as a whole, however, and found some of the selections confusing--an odd sense of prudery and shame from the essayist discussing the positives of polyamory; an unexpected heteronormative deluge from a contributor discussing her long-term relationships with women--and the rest of the essays, while occasionally charming, were unable to balance out my confusion and discomfort. I'll admit that I didn't read all of the entries (intensely dislike Dan Savage, already read the polyamory entry when it was published elsewhere) but the ones I did were good. It's important to have narratives like these available. Some of the stories were questionable from an intersectionality POV and some had bizarre aesops (wander the country in an RV with your un-vaccinated kids, and screw prenatal care!) but overall I enjoyed it.
essays from ZZ Packer, Dan Savage, Min Jin Lee, asha bandele, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, and others
—cnblue2124
My fav so far: And Then We Were Poly, Woman Up, My First Husband, and Sharing Madisonon page 226
—serg
This was an interesting book to read and good to see other peoples' perspective on life.
—iainr
A great collection of family from different perspectives in the American home.
—LaurieGaudet
I loved this book and how it touched on the different family dynamics.
—nashik
