One Big Happy Family
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More important and timely than ever--a collection of illuminating essays on the shifting definition of the modern American family. Edited by bestselling writer Rebecca Walker, this fascinating exploration of today's American family features essays by prominent voices such as Z.Z. Packer, Dan Savage, Min Jin Lee, Asha Bandele, Neal Pollack, and others, on subjects such as open marriages, polyamory, single motherhood, parenting a disabled child, home schooling, and more. An unabashed celebration of love in all its diversity and complexity, One Big Happy Family offers a multitude of engaging pictures of modern American families.
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It's tough to find an anthology that has such consistently good stuff in it, or at least stuff that I consistently find really interesting. This is a finely edited anthology, with lots of various perspectives represented, and myriad writing styles as well. I think I'm also finding this book at a time when it's most helpful to me, while I struggle with traditional scripts about what various types of relationships might look like, and how to find a way to navigate around the traditions without running aground.
It's fascinating to know that, while I struggle in my little world with my little scripts, lots of people are struggling (or not!) with so-called “alternative” relationship models, other ways of being; learning about some of those ways (and knowing this must just be the tip of the iceberg) really helps me find some solace. Given that “traditional” families only exist as comfortable fictions anyway, I'd say anybody might enjoy learning about different types of relationships from the authors here.