We Don’t Always Find What We are Looking For
By Marjorie Celona
Free Press, $24.99, 259 pages
Y explores the age-old question of “who am I?’’, and more importantly for an abandoned child: “Where did I come from?”. Shannon is abandoned hours after birth on the steps of a Vancouver, BC YMCA. Vaughn witnessed the event from his car in the early morning hours. Shannon moves from home to home in her first five years but finally lands in the household of a single mother Miranda and her daughter, Lydia-Rose. Life with her foster family is far from perfect and Shannon begins to act out. Shannon skips school, runs away and tries drugs. Alternating chapters divulge Yula’s (Shannon’s birth mother) odd and agonizing life leading up to Shannon’s birth. Yula lives in a remote cabin and struggles with her inability to move on from that fateful day of giving up her daughter. Y tells an interesting and sometimes, painful story. As Shannon searches for clues to her auspicious beginning, the reviewer connected with her heartbreaking loss and discovery. The writing is clunky, at times, but the subject matter prevailed to culminate in a satisfying read.
Reviewed by Seniye Groff
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