I received a digital ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I thought this memoir was very interesting and told a fascinating story which leads to further discussion into the ethics and ethical ramification of DNA testing.

A beautiful, devastating, unflinching memoir. At the age of 54, writer Dani Shapiro takes a home DNA test on a whim, and discovers a shocking truth: her father is not her father. As she and her husband work to figure out what happened, she must face a new reality in which her identity, especially that as a Jewish woman, is completely changed.

Shapiro has such a wonderfully warm, direct voice in her writing that the reader will feel like they’re experiencing the journey through fertility medicine, 1960s sperm donors, family, and true self at her side.

What would you do if you sent off a simple dna test to learn or confirm your heritage and find out everything you know about yourself is wrong? This is the unbelievable true story of author Dani Shapiro who found out just that . This story takes you through her emotional roller coaster when she finds out her father is not her father . Full of surprises and twist and turns this book reads like a suspense novel and you have to remind yourself this is reall people you are reading about .

"Shapiro explores the ethical and existential questions at the heart of her journey with
sensitivity and nuance. She occasionally belabors her points, but rarely do her musings
about identity and ancestry read as simplistic or shallow. A complex and multifaceted
memoir, interwoven with history and full of feeling, Inheritance is sure to appeal to loyal
fans of the author as well as readers new to her thoughtful work."

Review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr246208

Inheritance gripped me from the first page. Not only is it beautifully written, it deals with life-changing issues that have become more topical than ever, especially with the current trend of conducting DNA testing as a pastime.

A fascinating memoir on family, identity, and the reconciliation of both in the face of scientific discovery. The ethics of genetic testing are scrambling to keep pace with the realities of technological progress, and this book wrestles with certainties being shattered by newly revealed facts.

Dani Shapiro took a DNA test. The man she believed to be her biological father was not. She discovered her parents difficult conceiving a child led them to a clinic where her mother was artificially inseminated not with her father's sperm but with that of a young doctor. A first cousin match led to the man's identity. Correspondence between Shapiro and her biological father took place. The eventually met. While I enjoyed the DNA story, the publication of the memoir revealing the man's identity appears to be a violation of genetic genealogy ethics, particularly when she continually voiced the man's concern for privacy. I received an advance electronic copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I hope the final version includes her biological father's consent to be named. (3.5 stars)

https://chantalreviews.blogspot.com/2018/12/inheritance-memoir-of-genealogy.html

This memoir, which is in four parts, is Dani Shapiro's most intimate memoir to date. Shapiro who has always considered herself her father's daughter is devastated to learn that he is not her biological father.

Despite clues along the way, nothing clicks until she takes a DNA test. She expected to find that she is 100% Jewish but the test reveals something else altogether. She is biologically related to her mother but not to her father.

Gradually, more details come to light. Before Shapiro was born, her parents had visited an infertility clinic known to mix sperm. Though she hopes her parents had not concealed anything from her, it becomes obvious they knew she was donor-conceived.

Shapiro claims she had always known something was amiss. For Shapiro, who was devoted to her father, but always felt at odds with her family, the DNA results answer many troubling questions.

The DNA results opens old wounds, leaving Shaprio completely unmoored.

She describes how lost she feels in poetic language:

"I am the black box, discovered years--many years--after the crash. The pilots, the crew, the passengers have long been committed to the sea. Nothing is left of them. Fathoms deep, I have spent my life transmitting the faintest signal...I am also the diver who has discovered the black box...I had been looking for it all my life without knowing it existed."

Eventually, she has a meeting with her biological father whom she strongly resembles. They are brought together through the magic of social media.

Shapiro digs deeper, investigating the way cryobanks currently operate. She interviews dozens of donor-conceived individual who feel just as exiled and lost as she does.

As she forges deeper relationships with her biological family, however, Shapiro begins to see everything in a new light: as a blessing.

Shapiro, who was raised as an orthodox Jew, is peppered with Jewish phrases and expressions. Her identity is still firmly Jewish, even if she is half Christian.

She puts all of her previous writings in perspective, realizing nearly all of her works were about family secrets.

Though she gives her social father "kol hakavod" (all the honor), she comes to cherish her biological one as well.

Shapiro's story is so important in this age when DNA kits are becoming more and more recreational. As more and more individuals have genetic testing done, more connections will be made. The likelihood of family secrets becoming accidently unearthed--as Shapiro's had--will increase over time.

We are all looking for the meaning of life and our place in it. Our search starts with our ancestry. With DNA testing now readily available to everyone, there are bound to be long held secrets revealed. Dani Shapiro's amazing story is so important going forward as people discover that the foundations that they built their identities on get pulled out from underneath them. Ms. Shapiro seems incredible fortunate to find her biological father, but is she? Had she not found the sperm donor, would her journey be different. So much to digest in this beautifully written memoir.

Beautifully written and poignant memoir in which self examination is like a kaleidoscope, shifting at every turn. The questions, Who am I, Why am I who I am, resonate for all readers and especially for memoirist Dani Shapiro whose foundation, her family and her identity, have informed and reformed her writings. This compelling story is almost a Sherlockian mystery. I hope to read more of Shapiro's journey if she chooses to share it with readers.

I liked this, I didn’t love it. She writes about a tough situation, sure - but with so much beating of her breast; after a while it got difficult to take it all in. I was trying to imagine myself in her shoes - I, too, grew up identifying strongly with my father. How would I feel if I discovered there was no biological link? It would indeed be unmooring, I think. But her father is still the man who raised her and shaped her - as mine did - and DNA, or lack thereof, does not change that.

As a child, I often wondered if I was adopted. Not because there was evidence of such an events (and there isn't), but as a curiosity of what it would be like to be someone else or in some other family. Finding out later in life, after a DNA test that you are not who you though you were as shocking a place as just about any other life event. Dani Shapiro's account was amazing, taking me through the moments of revelations, once hidden from view. Her process or journey was both clear-eyed and demanding. Highly recommended.

I have been reading Dani Shapiro’s books, both fiction and memoir, for many years, so I had a good idea of who she was. All this was upended when she received the results of a casually taken ancestry test.

Initial shock, assumption of incorrect results and finally, the reality that much of her identity had been forged by a giant lie. Dani began an investigation of her genetic past and is shockingly successful.

I loved the journey that Dani took, reconstructing her identity, coming to terms with biology versus nurture. She also had to examine her antipathy toward her mother and love for her father and his heritage.

This is a wonderful examination of rewritten personal history. Since reading “Who Was She?” By Samuel G. Freedman I have been fascinated by learning the truth, beyond the simplistic pap, that many of us have been fed, in lieu of harsh family truth.

Of course, now I look with fear at the various DNA tests, I thank Shapiro for sharing her revelatory journey. I urge my book groups to read this, fascinating discussions and thought provoking insights make this very valuable reading.

Shapiro delves into her surprise DNA results and looks at what it means to be a family. Well written with at least a passing investigation into the new situations of genetic ethics. Well written in her usual style.

This story was emotional, well written, very moving. The author gave up some very personal stuff. I truly enjoyed it