Y: A Novel, updated with my Review!

Synopsis:  “Y. That perfect letter. The wishbone, fork in the road, empty wineglass. The question we ask over and over. Why? . . . My life begins at the Y.” So opens Marjorie Celona’s highly acclaimed and exquisitely rendered debut about a wise-beyond-her-years foster child abandoned as a newborn on the doorstep of the local YMCA. Swaddled in a dirty gray sweatshirt with nothing but a Swiss Army knife tucked between her feet, little Shannon is discovered by a man who catches only a glimpse of her troubled mother as she disappears from view. That morning, all three lives are forever changed.

Bounced between foster homes, Shannon endures abuse and neglect until she finally finds stability with Miranda, a kind but no-nonsense single mother with a free-spirited daughter of her own. Yet Shannon defines life on her own terms, refusing to settle down, and never stops longing to uncover her roots—especially the stubborn question of why her mother would abandon her on the day she was born.

Brilliantly and hauntingly interwoven with Shannon’s story is the tale of her mother, Yula, a girl herself who is facing a desperate fate in the hours and days leading up to Shannon’s birth. As past and present converge, Y tells an unforgettable story of identity, inheritance, and, ultimately, forgiveness. Celona’s ravishingly beautiful novel offers a deeply affecting look at the choices we make and what it means to be a family, and it marks the debut of a magnificent new voice in contemporary fiction.

My Review:  I REALLY enjoyed Y, A Novel.  I wish I could put my finger on it and explain in words....I feel like I am going to struggle with this review and not do the book justice.  Here I go...

I thought Y was beautifully written.  I really liked the main character, Shannon and her foster family.  The story is told to us from her point of view through her first 18 years.  The story alternates every now and than back to her birth mother and what led up to her abandoning Shannon.  It is some crazy stuff!

Shannon ends up meeting the man who found her, connects through letters with her birth father and mets her birth mother and grandfather.  Through it all her foster family is by her side.  She learns what family really means. It is truly a beautiful story.  

Meet the Author:  Marjorie Celona received her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the John C. Schupes fellowship. Her stories have appeared in Best American Nonrequired Reading, Glimmer Train, and Harvard Review. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, she lives in Cincinnati.

Marjorie - I moved from the Cincinnati area to NY four years ago.  I still want to move back.  I miss it so much.

Purchase it:  You can purchase Y a novel online at Amazon for $24.99 (Kindle version $11.99).