Birth mother

Library Journal

In 1980 Kane, a married mother of three, deliveredliterallyon a contractual promise and became America's first surrogate mother. Her diary-like narrative supposedly fulfills another pledge: to present a ``story of determination to survive'' the trauma of giving up her son. Instead, the author mainly offers an expurgated version of her pregnancy. Fiction techniques compromise her aim for honesty, and while the short epilogue sufficiently describes Kane's ``sisterly'' support of Mary Beth Whitehead (of Baby M fame) and rejects surrogacy, it merely skims over the reasonsKane's own emotional fallout, e.g., a shaky marriage, learning disabled child, depression. Still, this is a unique contribution to the literature. For larger collections. Janice Arenofsky, formerly with Arizona State Lib., Phoenix