Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir, The Book’s Background

MAMALITA: AN ADOPTION MEMOIRByInstitution
Mamalita: An Adoption Memoir
Getting through an adoption process can never be as harrowing and enthralling as depicted in this book by Jessica O’Dwyer. The book details the author’s journey with her husband Tim in adopting a Guatemala-born daughter named Olivia (formerly Tiffany) and the headaches and adventures they went through in the hands of a shoddy agent named Yolanda. This study provides a summary of the book, the major themes and its critique.
The Book’s Background
The book is written as a personal experience of the author in her process to acquire one of her two children, Olivia, from Guatemala for adoption (Buffalolib.org, 2017). The author sought to provide her riveting and rather troubling journey that many American families go through in the process of adopting children from overseas. As noted by the writer, the process of adoption was not smooth sailing and ended up to be very bureaucratic. She thought the process would take up to six months but ended up spending more than one year.
The book provides information to any individual who plans to adopt a child in and out of the country, of the bureaucratic process they may have to follow. In the book, the author shows how she ends up in the hands of a shoddy adoption agent known as Yolanda and her group of shady private attorneys known as notarios. The problem started when she signs up for the agency through an online source, and realizes the agent was playing around with her when it was too late. The book is an eye opener to any like-minded individuals who may be passing through the same situation as the author’s. The book also shows how dealing with authorities outside the American borders can be difficult as the overseas government are very corrupt. The book has two parts each with ten chapters. The author comes through hopelessness, adventure, despair and triumph, making it a good read.
Summary of the Book
Jessica O’Dwyer details how her life has gone through the turmoil of divorce and many broken relationships because of her condition. At age 32, she experienced an early menopause, a condition called premature ovarian failure that affects less than four percent of women. Her sisters are all married and have children, leaving her yearning for an opportunity to undergo the most rewarding moment of a woman’s life. After her divorce from her college boyfriend, she had difficulty finding a husband as all her dates were not accustomed to the idea that she was infertile. She spent most of her life reserved and taking bicycle rides with retired navy cops in order to gather up enough strength before adopting a child.
She met her husband, Tim, a dermatologists from Marin County during one of the bicycle ride events she participated in. They developed chemistry from the first moment and went on to know each other over a period of three months, before they finally got married and moved in together. The fact that her husband was not moved by the issue of having a biological child was a plus in her life as she immediately began her adoption process after their honeymoon. She came across Yolanda Sanchez’s website one time and discovered the baby Tiffany, whom she liked from the first ...