Everybody's Son

Starred review from April 10, 2017
When nine-year-old Anton first enters foster care, he still believes his mother is coming back for him. However, his new foster father, David Coleman, hopes she stays away for a long time. Since his biological son’s death five years ago, David’s been searching for someone to fill the void in his and his wife’s lives. David never imagined the child they’d take in would be black, but Anton seems to be adjusting well to the world of the rich, white, and privileged. David rationalizes that if he must do something dishonest to keep the boy, it is only because he wants to protect him and give him a better life. With every advantage that money can buy and nepotism can offer, Anton spends the next several decades advancing in society and following in his politician father’s footsteps. But when the secrets of his past are finally revealed, Anton’s identity is shaken to the core. Jarring and beautiful, Umrigar’s novel examines complex social issues with brutal honesty, but also creates accessible characters with relatable motives, reminding us of the deep-seated racism that exists even in the places we don’t think to look.

April 1, 2017
A neglected 9-year-old biracial child adopted by a powerful white family grows up to fulfill his potential only to confront a secret which will recast his entire sense of self.The question haunting Umrigar's (The Story Hour, 2014, etc.) seventh novel is: when? When will the chickens come home to roost? After Anton Vesper's new father, Judge David Coleman, manipulates both the child and his crack-addict mother, Juanita, in order to cement Anton's adoption? David and his trusting wife, Delores, lost their only son, James, in a car crash, and while Anton will never replace James, David thinks fostering the boy will help Delores heal. Soon the judge is convinced that all parties (except Juanita) will be better off with Anton living with the Colemans permanently. The son of a senator and tapped for the governorship himself, David has powerful friends who help ensure a lengthy prison term for Juanita, and when her release is imminent, David persuades her, with lies, to relinquish custody of her son. Years pass. Anton--also lied to--thrives, studies at Harvard, and is elected attorney general, but the reckoning is unavoidable. Umrigar's conscientious, one-track story doesn't offer much in the way of nuance. Characters are simple, plot developments easy to predict, and the racial lessons heavily underscored. David abuses his power; Juanita, poor, black, and unsophisticated, is "railroaded by a bunch of powerful white men"; and Anton had "three parents in his life [who] had each betrayed him." While the author delivers her morally explicit story in an efficient, readable fashion, the inevitability of its outcome renders it earthbound. This tale of identity and privilege never shakes off its sense of running a mechanical course.

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April 15, 2017
Ten-year-old Anton was trapped in a stifling apartment for a week. His junkie mother had locked the door to their home in the projects while she went out for what was supposed to be a quick trip, but instead she was drugged up for days. This dramatic event brings the serious, bright boy into the rarefied world of Judge David Coleman. The son of a U.S. senator, Coleman is looking to foster a child after losing his own son in a tragic accident. He sees potential in Anton, and, when he has an opportunity to permanently improve the boy's circumstances, he takes it. What follows is a potent examination of race and privilege from the author of The Story Hour (2014) and The Space between Us (2006). Under the loving care of the Colemans, Anton excels, eventually getting into politics himself. But he remains dogged by questions about his identity, which threaten to topple his career right before a key election. Everybody's Son is uncompromising in its portrayal of what power reveals about those who wield it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2017

After his mother, Juanita, goes out for a quick hit of cocaine and is trapped for a week by her dealer, ten-year-old Anton is fostered out to a blue-blooded judge. Wonderful writer's writer Umrigar moves beyond the Indian and Indian American experience; with a 35,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2017

When nine-year-old Anton is abandoned for a week by his drug-addicted mother, he enters the foster system and is taken in by David Coleman, a judge from a prominent political family, and his wife, Delores, who are still coping with the untimely loss of their son. David's position and connections allow him to manipulate the situation to his advantage and, as he believes, Anton's. In college, Anton must confront the dissonance between his early life and his adoptive family when he becomes romantically involved with the volatile and outspoken Carine. Later, when Anton starts his own political career, he is no longer able to escape early injustices done on his behalf and begins his journey toward becoming whole. Umrigar (Bombay Time) takes on the tricky task of exploring race in America, choosing a narrowly focused story regarding one family rather than attempting a broader sweep. She exposes the unconscious bias of powerful white liberals such as David, who fails to consider or understand the bond between Anton and his birth mother. VERDICT While the depiction of Anton's political rise during the last half of the book feels somewhat generic, his personal journey is a moving one that many fiction readers can appreciate. [See Prepub Alert, 12/12/16.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.