The Russian Word for Snow: A True Story of Adoption

This adoption story was wonderfully written. I read it four years ago in preparation for our adventure to Russia to adopt our son. There were so many similarities between the author's experience and our own. After our adoption was final and we were settled at home, I read The Russian Word for Snow again to relive the Russian adoption experience. I loaned my original copy to someone and it was never returned so I had to replace it so that I can read it again to reminisce about our awesome experience. With all the concerns about international adoption, it is so reassuring to read a lovely story about a positive adoption experience. I highly recommend it to anyone contemplating Russian adoption, anyone already in the process, and even those who have completed their adoption journey because it is reassuring and uplifting.

I bought this book because Janis, the author, was my writing teacher. Once I started I couldn't put it down! It was great! She does of a wonderful job of putting the ups and downs of the adoption of her son onto paper. It will take you to the busy world of russia and into the place she can't wait to take her son from. It also deals with her honest fears of motherhood and her capability of raising that little boy she knew only from a photograph. I totally recommend it for a wonderful read that will leave you longing for more.

I found this book to be a compelling account of a woman's adoption of a Russian baby, told from the perspective of someone who started out never wanting to have a child and who gradually became a woman who passionately wanted to be a mother. The first section of this book is really a memoir of her transformation, one which was propelled into high gear when her mother died. She starts to yearn for family, become aware that there is more tho life than her career and even a marriage. Then there is a section which many families struggling with infertility will identify with - from an early pregnancy which results in a tubal pregnancy and miscarriage to unsuccessful (and costly) bouts of invitro fertilization, all written with often heartbreaking candor. Only gradually does adoption seem like a possible choice. The couple is still seeing fertility experts, in fact, when they attend an adoption seminar and fall in love with a little boy in a video. Speaking as someone who has adopted an older child from overseas, I was glad to see a book on adoption which did NOT gloss over the risks, as well as the rewards, of international adoption. For instance, after seeing an early video of her son-to-be, the author is warned that he might be "serverely delayed" by some well-meaning friends, putting the adoption into crisis until a doctor looks at the video and offers some reassurance. Be assured this book does hava a happy ending, closing with a look at her young, happy and healthy son and his life today. While other reviewers have criticized this author for disparaging Russia and Russians, I think it is to her credit that she portrayed her adoption saga from her own viewpoint and didn't flinch from honesty. The reality is that there CAN be delays and unexpected setbacks when adopting internationally. Ther reality is that many children DO have health issues or at least temporary developmental delays. The reality is that some Americans are thrown by life in Russia and have difficulty understanding the customs of that country. I am glad this author described her experience from a very personal viewpoint. Others may have a different experience and I hope that more books on overseas adoption are written, each as unique as the child who was adopted - and the families who adopted that child.

I have just finished reading Janis Cooke Newman's "The Russian Word for Snow" It is not my story, yet it is. I laughed and cried, had all sorts of memories rush back at me, and reveled in the clarity and eloquence of the author's words. I recognized myself and my sons, their orphanages and caregivers, and even some of the Russians and Ukrainians I met on my adoption journeys----yet I didn't know any of the people Janis met, didn't go to the same orphanage, have never met Janis and her husband Ken, who "knew no children's songs." But their story is our story in ways that only those of us who have adopted can know. The book is frank in its portrayal of the author's experiences, but the images she paints portray both the absurd and the sublime in very sensitive, perceptive ways.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Eastern European adoption especially, but also to those fascinated by the ways that families come together.Beth M. Waggenspack, Ph.D.