Stretch Marks

After a series of miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and a failed adoption, Liz Raptis Picco and her husband decide to pursue adopting a child from Mexico. They fall in love with a pair of young brothers in Juarez, and enter the bureaucratic morass that is international adoption. To boost their chances of being allowed to adopt, Liz moves to crime-infested Juarez to stay with the boys until the adoption is approved. However, this takes several months, rather than a few weeks, as she expected, and Liz is forced to contend with both maddening bureaucracy and the constant threat of violence in the city. Picco ably describes the struggles of international adoption, and readers will feel for her during every step of the process. Although the narrative drags at points, her depictions of the fear she experiences in Juarez are engaging. Even more engaging, however, are her honest misgivings about parenting, which are clearly presented in this memoir and will resonate with readers.