It’s incredible the depth of story a gifted writer can weave into a small personal life event. Dani Shapiro flexes her literary prowess in this memoir, and though it was the first book of hers I have ever read, it makes me eager to read more of her work. “Inheritance” was published in 2019 and chronicles Shapiro’s journey dealing with an unexpected and historical upheaval of everything she thought she knew about her heritage, ancestry, and parents. The book is at once a memoir of genetics, history, medicine, secrets, and family. I found it simply astonishing how such a mundane discovery (in my opinion as shaped by my personal story) could be exploded and explored to such a great depth as Shapiro does through this book. Her identity was entirely shaped by a lie and her coming to terms with that betrayal and coming to understand and accept the choices her parents made at the time was monumental. Every writer has something to learn from Shapiro’s ability to take a single event and build a rollercoaster of a story.

I was engrossed by Shapiro’s writing style. She is eloquent and precise in her phrasing. Every word is clearly chosen to serve a specific purpose and her emotions, even those of confusion that are so hard to capture in words, ring clear. As I said, I will be reading more of Shapiro’s work so I can learn more about her story as well as learn more from her writing style. Shapiro makes clear that “Inheritance” is so fundamentally different from all of her previous memoirs because something so personal about her own inheritance is found to be untrue. This flips everything she thought she knew on its head, and the emotional journey she takes in this book is so powerful to read, I highly recommend it.

One final note – I’ve seen some reviewers complain this book contains too much “whining.” I admit, I felt that way in the beginning as well. But I came to realize that Shapiro’s story is profound to HER, and that alone makes it a profound story in general. I cannot place myself in her shoes to feel how this news must have shook her world, so I cannot possibly know the extent to which she felt trauma from her discovery. Her identity and history was ripped from her, and only she can tell how that truly made her feel.

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Created Jun 21, 2019 at 7:25am • Submit your own review...