“Inheritance” by Dani Shapiro is a memoir of her journey to discovering a family secret that will forever alter her perspective on how she looks at her life.

SPOILER ALERT- If you love memoirs that are introspective and contain family secrets, you would enjoy this book. Do not read reviews or the synopsis of this book if you want to discover the family secret on your own. The family secret reveals itself in the first couple of chapters. It is hard to write a synopsis without giving away what the family secret is. So if you love to be surprised, quit reading this review and go and read the book.

Synopsis-

A family secret has been kept from Dani all her life. The very existence of this secret will change the perspective Dani Shapiro has on her past and future. In 2016, Dani decides on a whim to learn more about her heritage by obtaining genetic testing. Much to her bewilderment, she finds out that her father is not her biological father. She discovers at the age of 54 that she is in no way related to the father that raised her. This sends her on a personal journey of disclosing where she came from and who she belongs to. She also raises the question on why her family would keep this secret from her. Dani Shapiro’s memoir follows her investigation in solving who she is and the mystery of her existence.

My Thoughts-

Dani Shapiro is an amazing writer. My attention was captured and I could see the journey that she walked in this discovery. I was intrigued by her descriptions of her Jewish culture that she was raised in. I loved the Hebrew that she sprinkled throughout her text. A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of going to Israel and learning briefly about the culture. Her descriptions of her family life made me want to go back.

Although Dani Shapiro is a gifted writer, which made it worth my reading time, I was frustrated with the amount of pages it took to talk about the one family secret of her origin. I cannot imagine how traumatic it would be to find out you did not come from the family that you thought you came from, but I do think the book dragged a bit on this one subject. I honestly think the book would have been boring, but Dani Shapiro was able to keep my attention due to the quality of her writing.

I would also like to explain that I am not a fan of being introspective on one subject, the story has to keep moving to keep my attention. As I was reading this memoir, I kept waiting for there to be deeper layers to the family secret or perhaps other family secret unveiled, but it was mostly Dani Shapiro’s journey and feelings on how she handled her discovery. I know that this is a popular book and so my taste definitely will not align with many people, but that is the beauty of humankind. We are all unique and I believe it would be boring if we all adored the same books.

I would give this book a 3/5 stars based on the quality of writing but lack of interest in my opinion.

Recommended For-

If you love introspective memoirs, wonderful writing, and a touch of mystery, then you will enjoy “Inheritance” by Dani Shapiro.

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