Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia

By Kari Grady Grossman

Book Overview

2008 Awards for Bones That Float: Independent Publisher "IPPY" Outstanding Book of the Year - PEACEMAKER OF THE YEAR This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979249309
• ISBN13: 9780979249303
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Wild Heaven Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.03 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A "read-in-one-sitting"-book

With unflinching honesty and well-researched facts, Ms. Grossman details the plight of Cambodia's children as well as her personal story of advocacy for them. This book emphasizes that heartfelt, direct action addresses what meaningless political rhetoric cannot. This book will prick your conscience and will have you asking "what's *my* Cambodia?" Very highly recommended.

Triple Hit

This book is a very well-written account of three large topics - international adoption, Camboadian history and a successful sustainable, replicable education change project. It's a quick read in spite of the ambitious content. A great book for a book club review, especially since Kari will join your group by phone for a discussion.

Riveting Story of Adopting Cambodia a "Must-Read"

I love books in which the author incorporates storytelling to convey a message. "Bones that Float: A Story of Adopting Cambodia," does that exceptionally well. In this riveting non-fiction book that reads like a novel, author Kari Grady Grossman--a documentary producer--brings the fabric of life in Cambodia alive through word pictures. While it's officially the story of Kari and her husband George's journey to adopt an 8-month-old boy from Cambodia in 2001, "Bones that Float" is much, much more than that. Kari weaves two additional, fascinating storylines through the book, helping us to better understand the era between the Cambodian war in the early 1970s to the Khmer Rouge reign of terror to the reality of life in modern-day Cambodia. Kari narrates through the eyes of two Cambodians who grew up during the Khmer Rouge regime--one who later immigrated to the United States, and one who still lives in Cambodia. Distressing and deeply moving, "Bones that Float" raises the bar for adoption-related memoirs. Add it to your "must read" list. The Adoption Decision: 15 Things You Want to Know Before Adopting

A must read for multi-cultural adoptive families

As an adoptive parent of a daughter from China I am both fascinated and daunted by the prospect of trying to keep her connected to her history and let her be a girl growing up in the United States. Kari does a beautiful job of exploring the complexity of these issues and the brutal realities of modern Cambodia. Gaining understanding of another family's adoption story, a Cambodian refugee family's history, and a Cambodian taxi driver who cannot leave, provide me much greater insight to engage in conversations with my daughter about her life. Thank you Kari for broadening my perspectives.

A must-read book for all Americans

From page one this book will grab your heart and not let go. It will move you to think about international adoption and the critical bridges that are being built between our nations and cultures, and learn of one woman's amazing work to build a school in a remote Cambodian village. Kari tells of heart-wrenching stories of Cambodian loss, courage, and triumph during the Khmer Rouge era. This book opened my eyes to what happened in Cambodia during the Vietnam era and the devestating impacts of that war. But, the beauty of this book is that it is not just a historical account, nor just a story of adoption, it weaves all together so beatifully, so humanly, that when you turn the last page, you just might feel, as I do, that you've read one of the best books of your life.