Then She Found Me...Review

About the book:
Meet April Epner, the serious, scholarly, adopted daughter of two equally staid parents. They die, but April finds that she's far from orphaned when her birth mother, Bernice Graverman, comes to claim April's heart and improve her wardrobe and love life, too. April is a Latin teacher, given to wearing flannel jumpers. Bernice is hostess of a third-rate daytime talk show and wears designer labels and toad-sized earrings. She descends upon April's quiet life with the tact of a size-six locust, and the delightful and surprising results of this unlikely reunion will keep you turning pages long after bedtime.

An interesting, even compelling story. In a nutshell, April was born in 1952 to a 17-year old mother and adopted by German immigrants. She is smart and educated, but has a nice, quiet life. She has never desired to know her birth parents. However, at the age of 36, after her adoptive parents have died, her eccentric birth mother arrives, ready to be the perfect mother.

April is a Latin teacher and her birth mother, Bernice, is the host of a local talk show. She fancies herself the celebrity and can't understand why April doesn't instantly and completely accept her as her mother. She's eccentric, flamboyant and intrusive and at first, a compulsive liar who tells April that her birth father is John F. Kennedy. However, Bernice also means well and, as the story unfolds, she manages to become part of April's life.

While there seems to be equal treatment to the adoptive parents and the birth parents, the tone of the novel suggests that the birth parents are always the real parents. It wasn't until the end, when April is talking to Jack that you see appreciation for the adoptive parents.

There is some vulgarity and liberal use of the "F" word, which as always, doesn't make the story any better, just disappointing.

Helen Hunt has made a film based on this story and I was looking forward to seeing it. However, the film is rated R, which means I won't, and it is also significantly different than the book. As far as I can tell, the only things that are the same in the film are April and Bernice, and the adoption story. It does look interesting though.

I expected more from this novel, but it was a good read.

Thanks to my local bookstore for having a copy I could purchase.  You can purchase your own copy here.

Read 7/08

* * *
3/5 Stars

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