Scissors, Paper, Stone [Paperback]

What is considered a family, and who gets to define it? In 1964, despite the racial tension occurring in a postWWIIAmerica, Catherine and Jonathan adopt a baby girl from Korea. This unconventional choice brings disapproval from Catherines family, which creates an even closer bond between her and her daughter. Narrated in alternating chapters by Catherine, her adopted daughter Min, and Mins best friend Laura,Scissors, Paper, Stonespans twenty years of love, loss, and the complex reality of female relationships. By 1985 Catherine is living a risk-free life on her own accord, Laura is dating her way through college, and Min is a massage therapist who has come out as a lesbian and is learning to embrace her Korean heritage. After Min and Laura take a summer road trip together, the shifts in their friendship force all three women to examine the assumptions theyve been living by and to make choices about the roles they want to play in each others lives. The story is told in the alternating voices of Catherine, Min, and Mins longtime best friend, Laura, and covers 21 years, from 1964 to '85. Set in the predominantly white San Francisco suburb in which the family lives, it addresses numerous additional topicsMins coming out as a lesbian, her parents divorce, the creation of dozens of LGBTQ institutions that developed to challenge homophobia, and the difficulties that all young people face as they attempt to navigate long-term relationships. Mins sexualitysome scenes are pretty graphicand the tensions that arise between her and Catherine combine to make the novel an intense and compelling read. A terrific bildungsroman featuring three women who are by turns fascinating and bewildering but ultimately worth championing. --Kirkus Reviews FIrst Winner of Red Hens Quill Prose Award Title is a family drama about identity, family, and love. Important issues/themel0