| The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood | 
 enlarge | List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $0.01
You Save: $13.99 (100%)
Buy New/Used from $0.01
Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 34 reviews)
Sales Rank: 880681
Category: Book
Author: Jesse Green
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Studio: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Label: Ballantine Books
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0345437098
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780345437099
ASIN: 0345437098
Publication Date: May 2, 2000
Release Date: May 2, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Being a parent was not a high priority--or even much of a likelihood--for acclaimed journalist and novelist Jesse Green. Yet when Green, at the age of thirty-seven, fell in love with a man who had recently adopted a baby boy, fatherhood suddenly fell into his lap. Now in this warm, humorous, deeply personal book, Green recounts the unexpected journey he and his partner traveled together on the road to parenthood.
In becoming the father--or rather one of the fathers--of Erez, Green faced challenges familiar to all parents, from the first bath to the first tooth, along with a host of dilemmas unique to his situation. As Green discovered, even in blase New York City, reactions to his unconventional family ranged from the funny to the frightening, the unaccepting to the all-embracing. The Velveteen Father is a moving record of the transformative effects parenthood can have on people who least expect to become parents-- and of how we are repeatedly made anew by the love of children who need us.
Amazon.com Review
Journalist Jesse Green's delightful memoir makes it quite clear that the pleasures and perils of parenting are always the same--even for a gay 37-year-old man who stumbles into it by falling in love with a person who has an adopted son. As Green puts it in a typically well-turned phrase, "fatherhood trumps gayness," which is to say that heterosexual parents at the playground sometimes find it easier to relate to Green, his boyfriend, Andy, and son, Erez (soon joined by baby brother Lucas), than do the well-buffed, perennially youthful male guests at a Fire Island party--they flinch at the sight of diapers and baby bags. As the author searchingly and intelligently considers what it means to gay people to become parents, and the ways in which it does and does not pull them closer into the mainstream, his narrative is often extremely funny. (Joking about Erez's apparently heterosexual inclinations, Green deadpans, "We tried our best: We played him Judy Garland records and showed him tapes of West Side Story.") A very moving examination of identity and the making of a meaningful adult life that resonates profoundly for people of every sexual orientation. --Wendy Smith
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Excellent February 1, 2007
This is an excellent book into one man's journey into fatherhood. This book also tells the story of the man who adopted his son also. This book is an easy read and very enjoyable. I wish there were more books on happy non-traditional families like this.
 Have a dictionary handy October 7, 2003
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a prospective gay dad (waiting 2 years now), I looked forward to reading this book, in a melancholic way, and I must say, at most points it truly hits home with my experience of adoption by gay men.Overall, however, I had difficulty consuming portions of it (unlike Dan Savage's The Kid which I nearly read cover to cover in one sitting). It had a definite novelistic quality which seemed to have been written over time in at least two different chunks and then woven back together, leaving the reader to traverse an arduous landscape of semantic hills and valleys. I would say that the average reader will have difficulty making the trip. For the first couple of chapters I had to have a dictionary handy at every page (and I'm fairly well educated) which made the book difficult to approach. I almost felt like there was an attempt of the author to appear undeservedly erudite, and I nearly stopped reading it. Then it picks up again in developing the character of Andy. The first and second person accounts are the best, where the author diverts and waxes poetic, the book bogs down. The book is steeped in an examination of Jewish-American culture which diverts from the main premise (gay parenting), and having a Jewish friend to explain the nuances helps. however, this aspect of the book eventually becomes equally engaging. Overall I found the book enjoyable and touching, and a spot on accurate reflection of the current state of same-sex parenting and adoption. I just wish it flowed more smoothly and was less of an exercise in academia.
An Unexpected Joy December 12, 2002
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
As a prospective gay parent, I found Green's little book impossible to put down. His honest account of his emotions (and those of friends and family), combined with a most agreeable style makes this a wonderful book for parents-to-be of any sexual orientation.
Rich portrayal of a journey to parenthood July 11, 2001
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book creates the most vivid portraits of the author and his partner and both of their journeys to parenthood. I liked that it was not falsely sentimental--I believed every word. I didn't want it to end.
An Engrossing Read March 5, 2001
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was given a copy of this book by my boyfriend. Actually, it was hidden inside of another gift he'd given me for my birthday. He'd spoken often of his desire to be a parent, and it wasn't s surprise when I received the book. The surprise came when I opened it up to find not just a story about two gay men becoming fathers, but actually a meditation on the many ways in which we become families, and how who we are is shaped by our parents, our families and by who THEY are. This very different journey into parenthood is also a journey into humanity, and those who have or don't have children, want or don't want children, will find something of their own story in this touchingly written memoir.
|
|
|
