Customer Reviews

Broken Cord

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I first read this book in early 1990. Prior to reading this book, I did not know about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effect (FAS/FAE). Mr. Dorris gives a good overview of this tragic condition and his references throughout this book certainly augment the points he makes. I like the lyrical tone Abel's (called "Adam" in the book) story takes when the author includes references to nature and natural phenomena. This book is also culturally enriching by providing glimpses of Native American traditions, e.g. Adam's naming ceremony and the gatherings the Dorris family takes later in the book.

Two things saddened me deeply about this book in addition to Adam's congenital condition. The author was involved in a very unfortunate controversy and committed suicide a few years ago. Adam was run over by a car and killed. It made for a very tragic postcript to the lives of the Dorris family and to all those who cared about them personally.

It would be a shame if the circumstances surrounding the author's death cast a shadow over this fine book, because it is beautifully written, deeply felt, and a devastating account of the impact of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) among Native Americans.

Michael Dorris, a young unmarried college teacher and writer, adopts a Native American boy "Adam" whose developmental problems, he believes, are the result of poor nutrition, poor health care, and lack of proper parenting. In time, however, he discovers that Adam was born with FAS, a condition Dorris knows very little about. Believing that proper care can reverse the effects of FAS, he takes on the daunting and nearly futile task of helping Adam achieve a "normal" boyhood. The damage done, it turns out, is irreversible; Adam is almost maddeningly unable to learn simple tasks and responsibilities. FAS-related health problems, including seizures, often turn merely difficult days and nights into nightmares for the single father.

The book Dorris writes is meant as an eye-opener for readers who are unaware of the potential harm in consuming alcohol during pregnancy. Given naturally to research and study, he shares with the reader much of what he learns about FAS and the Native American culture that has had such a fatal connection with alcohol. To that extent, this is almost a textbook on the subject.

But this is also the story of a father and son, and most poignant, for this reader, is the relationship between them that is a thread throughout the book. Dorris never surrenders to the barriers that exist between him and his son. Having taken responsibility for Adam, he gives his all to making even the smallest difference in the boy's life. It's a heroic effort and often heartbreaking.

I am part of a foster family and a future teacher, and thought that this book would help me understand children who have been prenatally exposed to alcohol. Although I have worked with many children who have been diagnosed with FASD, this book brought to light many things that I had not previously noticed. As well as stating the emotional turmoil that is involved in caring for these special children, helping me see the caregivers point of view. I had previously felt that the frustration, as well as the overwhelming joy, that came with teaching children with FASD was a personal failure (at least the feelings of frustration). It really helped to feel that I wasn't the only one who felt this way, and that there are ways to help both caregiver and child with these issues.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who will be working at all with children with FASD. It gives you an idea of what can go wrong and how to deal with it. Mostly though, it relieves the sense of isolation and frustration that you will eventually feel, and help you see the bright side. Even if you will never come into contact with anyone with FASD, this book is an incredably inspiring read. It isn't a light read, and at times it's fairly depressing, but it's worth it.

Dorris's intent in writing this text is to enlighten people about the disease called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. His primary focus is how Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is affecting the Native American culture. However, he does mention how this disease knows no limits of culture and is occurring across all nationalities.
The various parts of the text are divided into Dorris's denial, tolerance and then acceptance of the effects of FAS. Dorris writes about his life as a single parent, when at the age of 26 he decides to adopt a child. Dorris was informed about his adopted son Adam having problems developing. He thought that with enough love and nurturing Adam could overcome any obstacles. The beginning part of the text Dorris is in denial. He blames Adam's shortcomings on a slow start, bias tests, and incompetent assessments. Dorris writes, "I periodically concluded that Adam's teachers must be incompetent, badly trained, or lazy when they failed to stimulate his performance in the classroom."(p. 65)
Dorris has trouble even thinking that his son might have a problem. Once Dorris adopted two more children, he noticed that the other children developed very fast in comparison to Adam and soon were at the same level of Adam. He still held out hope that Adam would have some hidden talent that would balance out his shortcomings. This is the part of the text where he tolerated the fact that Adam was different than most children his age. Dorris still had not grasped the extent of the damage the drinking Adam's birth mother had caused. Dorris does seem to have a breaking point when he leaves with his wife to a dinner party and the children are left alone. At this point Adam is 19 and he breaks a pipe in his parents' bathroom. He then turns off the light, shuts the bathroom door, and goes to his bedroom. Dorris and his wife come home to find the house flooded. They clean up the mess without saying a word and go to bed. This event is their final defeat at thinking Adam will ever have the independence of living alone.
From this point the text takes a turning point where Dorris starts to accept that Adam is the person he is and no amount of love and nurturing can completely erase the effects of FAS. Dorris and his wife find a vocational program where Adam can find employment and living accommodations. Adam works at a bowling alley and Dorris goes to visit Adam on a lunch break. Dorris has partially accepted that Adam's development and choices will not change. On the other hand, as a parent he cannot fight the urge to give unsolicited advice. I do not view his comments on how Adam should eat or take care of himself better as Dorris still in denial. I believe that a parent will always have the insatiable urge to give unsolicited advice no matter what developmental stage their child is at.
I would recommend this text to other students with the explanation that this text was written when FAS was very new and when little information was out about FAS. This text gives a good start into what FAS is and what are the effects of FAS. The text also goes into depth the love of a parent for a disabled child so that a future teacher can further understand from what experiences a parent might come from.
The strengths of the text include Dorris not sugar coating FAS and his ability to reveal all the ups and downs of Adams life as well as his own. In my personal life, I am looking at becoming a mother and the plain way he has explained the dangers of even occasional drinks during pregnancy have made me scrutinize my old beliefs. I can also empathize with Dorris and Adam's accomplishments and disappointments through the style of writing Dorris employs in his text.
The main weakness of the text is that most of the data is outdated. The book was written about 14 years ago. As stated earlier, this text is a good start to understanding FAS. However, this text starts only a foundation to understanding FAS. Further research is needed to fully understand the current techniques for working with a child that suffers from FAS.
While reading this text I kept asking myself how I would implement the information given into teaching procedures within my classroom. The main point I kept coming back to was a quote stated, "Perhaps the single most important coping skills when working with FAS/FAE is a sense of humor."(p. 347) If a sense of humor is not kept then there is no focus. As an educator or parent, if there is no sense of humor then all sanity is lost. The stress of perfection will put too much pressure on the child as well as the facilitator.
My overall impression of this text is one of mixed emotion. At first I thought the text would just contain depressing stories with some insight. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing at certain parts like when Dorris spent a week making the perfect train cake for Adams sixth birthday and the comical fiasco that followed. After reading the text I was intrigued about how Adams future had turned out. I investigated and was saddened to read that Adam was killed at age 23 in a hit and run accident. I was further upset to read that Michael Dorris committed suicide when abuse charges were pending. Real life does not always paint a beautiful picture when we search for truth and hope.

In my 9th grade English class, we were allowed to choose from six books the book we wanted to read. I chose this book for the sole reason of reading about the actual life of Michael Dorris, and not at all about the Native American inclination to alcoholism or the implications of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). As I started reading it, I found it painfully difficult to read the endless chapters of technical terms and Dorris' own interpretation of Native Americans, which turned out to be most of the book. I did find the parts where he described actual events that happened to Adam and him somewhat interesting, but that was the farthest extent to which I enjoyed this book. I was forced to continue reading this book since it was for my English class, but otherwise I would have stopped long before the second half. However, since I had no other option, I chose to be optimistic, thinking that the book couldn't possibly get any worse. It got worse. Especially the part where he interviews the FAS researchers, in which he asked them the exact same questions, and recieved the exact same answers. The final thing that bothered me about this book was Dorris' use of language. Intricate vocabulary and complex sentence structure do, to some extent, make the prose more enjoyable, but his word choice made the book difficult to understand and even more difficult to enjoy. My last statement will be this: All the other reviewers of this book may have enjoyed it because of their interest in FAS, and that was why they enjoyed it so much. So if you're looking for a book about a man and his adopted child, and their relationship, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. But if you are looking for information on FAS, by all means, disregard this review.

I read this book because it was on Hillary Clinton's favorite book list. She was right it is great. Inspirational, uplifting despite the subject matter. A parents love and devotion to a child is wonderful subject for a story.

I have an adopted son with possible FAE not FAS. The recent studies are saying that FAE is just as bad as FAS because you don't know what it is so readily. My son was the product of a 17 year old drug addict/acoholic who lived on the streets prostituting. So far he is a happy healthy boy, but is tremendously developmentally delayed. He's 8 years old functioning around age 3-4. He will never be OK. When I'm so sad or overwhelmed with his behaviors I like to sit down and watch the TV version (which I recorded) of The Broken Cord. It truely gives me strength to carry on. I have subsequently fallen in love with Jimmy Smits who played Adam's dad on the show. What an excellent job! He portrays, so well, the true frustration these innocent little people bring into your life. I especially relate to the "choo-choo" dialogue and how it started out so cute and became the biggest source of aggrevation. My son does similar things and on occasion I just sit and cry. Michael Dorris did the world a wonderful job of getting the medical profession to begin thinking about this terrible syndrome. Let's keep working! Michael, despite the reasons for your death - you are truely missed and highly respected. You understand these children more than anyone else I know. Doctors - wake up!

This is the story of a man and his adopted son and the devotion Dorris had to his son. It exposes more than fetal alcohol syndrome. It gives us insight into what it means to be a parent and love unconditionally. Dorris contributed so much to humanity; he will be missed