The Ones We Choose

The Ones We Choose is a wonderfully crafted blend of science and soul … the perfect addition to your summer reading list.The great love of Paige Robson’s life is her son, Miles, whom she conceived using an anonymous sperm donor. An earnest, intense geneticist, Paige has difficulty with the intimacy of adult relationships: forsaken at a young age by her unreliable father, she battles against anyone getting too close to her—even her good-natured lover Liam—because she’s afraid of getting hurt. She also worries about interference with her relationship with her son. Even so, Paige’s life is fulfilling: she enjoys her home life and her (deliberately ironic) career researching the biological underpinnings of paternal attachment.When other children in Miles’s school begin teasing him for not having a father, he struggles with his lack of knowledge, lashing out against Paige for the manner of his conception. As she seeks to expand her knowledge of the donor—Miles’s biological father—Paige uncovers an astonishing coincidence: not only is it possible she knows the donor, but he may be harboring a terrible secret.I got a kick out of the premise of this novel, which was beautifully enhanced by explanations of underlying genetic principles at the beginning of each chapter. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t get want to get bogged down in technical language you won’t miss a crucial plot point by skipping these portions, but if you love the opportunity to soak up some education from your pleasure reading, these sections are for you. They’re engaging, easily understood, and highly enjoyable to read.Now on to the emotional components of the story: before writing this, I took the time to read some of the other reviews posted of this novel and noticed how many people personally identified with Paige. She is fascinating: she’s such a well-drawn, complete personality, and her story is so compelling. I don’t want to say too much here about the assumptions and choices Paige makes because there are some surprising twists in the novel that kept me stuck to the page. As in all great character-driven fiction, I found myself completely immersed in the mind of the protagonist. Paige’s love for her son is the glue that holds the story together; with every page, you sense the longing she has for her little boy to be okay. I could relate to that so much. Clark’s prose is elegant and enticing; she weaves the story together in a way that feels effortless, but as a writer I know how difficult it is to captivate readers in this way. It’s suspenseful too: trust me, you will be desperate to reach the end of the book to find out what happens.

This was such a wonderful, heartfelt read! I loved the science and genetics subplot. It was fascinating! But more than that, I really connected with Paige. She was a sympathetic, developed character that I couldn't help but root for. Her love for her son, her fears, the walls she put up to protect herself--they made her a compelling character for me. The story, too, was equally compelling. Julie Clark weaves a heart-felt story of family, motherhood, and breaking past childhood trauma with precision. The story never lags. The in-between chapters of science, which complement the story, were intriguing. It's one of those stories that I'll read over and over again.

Julie Clark's debut is storytelling at its finest. Paige Robson is every mother who is fiercely protective of her child and yet can't stop the wheels of her child's curiosity or temper his intense desire to know his father. She knows his heart will be broken as hers is with regard to her own father. As a geneticist, she tries to answer the complicated question of why some fathers never bond with their children, hoping to discover a solution that is one simple medication away from eliminating the heartbreak of abandonment and paternal detachment. There is so much to admire here in Clark's interweaving of Paige's history and scientific research with the present pain of her son, Miles. I'm a fan of learning something when I read, whether of the heart or the mind, and loved the information on genetics that preceded each chapter. The secondary characters are fully developed and a sign of the author's talent that I felt sympathy for each of them even when their goals were at odds with one another. A beautiful read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

A definite MUST READ!!I never post recommendations (everyone has their own tastes, and usually I don't try to push my tastes on others), but I can't pass this up. It has been a long time since I picked up a book and did not want to put it back down, again, until I finished. I highly recommend The Ones We Choose, by Julie Abbott Clark. Similar to Henrietta Lacks in that science is interwoven into the story, but in a very understandable (but not condescending) way for a lay person...beautifully written with real and relatable characters...intriguing and interesting, without absurd or outlandish storylines. From the jacket description (with which I completely agree!): "With grace and humor, Julie Clark shows that while the science is fascinating, solving intimate mysteries of who we are and where we come from unleashes emotions more complex than the strands of DNA that shape us."

When you consider that for all but a handful of years of the entirety of human history, a child's parentage could, with reasonable discretion, be hidden forever, the fact we now live in a time where a serial killer can be identified because some unknown relatives tested their DNA for fun is pretty mind-blowing. In The Ones We Choose, Julie Clark examines this new world we are in on a personal level--a geneticist mom of a child conceived using the sperm of an anonymous donor. The protagonist's own personal story involving her estranged father and the potential discovery of her child's father interweaves with her research into genetic traits and environmental influences. Clark's debut is a smart and touching story. I look forward to her next work.