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Reviewed by Vincent Dublado for Readers' Favorite
In his middle years, Peter J. Boni is at the top of his professional career as a veteran high-tech CEO who is the go-to guy for organizations in disrepair. While his career has been competing for time and attention with his family, his mother suffers a post-surgical stroke. His wife then reveals to him that his mother, while regaining her memory, tells his wife a story that Peter’s father is not his biological parent. This is the story of Uprooted: Family Trauma, Unknown Origins, and the Secretive History of Artificial Insemination, where author Peter J. Boni traces the roots of his genealogical origin that took him twenty years. With the help of Tracy, his resilient and creative daughter, he comes to learn of the consequences of assisted reproduction as a long-lost sister, Roxy, enters the scene. As Roxy adds a few missing pieces to complete their genetic puzzle, Peter wonders if he has more half-siblings from a single sperm donor.
Uprooted is a passionate telling of a secret that was intended to be taken to the grave. I cannot help but admire Boni’s precise choice of words to aptly describe his feelings about the whole revelation and the moving narrative about his crusade to decode his genetic identity. This is a story that not only provides a startling look at reproductive technologies but similarly serves as a wake-up call for an industry practice that no one talks about. The most thought-provoking part of his journey is knowing that he is not alone as donor-conceived individuals continue to flourish. In discovering his own truth that has set him free, I strongly recommend that you read this work to encourage you to trace your own roots. Whether or not you are a product of a natural union, there is something liberating about knowing who you are at a genetic level.