In Search of Us

Description

In Search of Us is a young adult novel written by Ava Dellaira and based on a dual narrative that ties in two separate stories about a mother and a daughter, speaking to the thoughts of identity, family secrets, love, and self-discovery.

Summary
Plot
Angie’s Story (Present Day): Angie is a 17-year-old multiracial girl from Los Angeles who lives with her white mother, Marilyn. She does not know much about her African American father, James, who died when she was not even born. The seemingly ordinary life of Angie goes awry when a photograph reveals dark secrets that her family might be harboring. This newfound mystery propels Angie on a quest to uncover the truth about her father and her roots, and then takes her on a joyride hunt for her estranged uncle who assists in unveiling the tangled history of her family.

Marilyn’s Story: Back This section of the novel is in the late 1990s and centering around Angie’s mother, Marilyn. When Marilyn was a teenager, she had wished that her mother became less clingy so that she could pursue acting. She then falls in love with Angie’s father, James, but her relationship with him has quite a few obstacles in the way because James was black, and Marilyn’s parents were socially opposed to the marriage. At one point in her life, Marilyn experienced heartache, tough decisions, and circumstances that would in due course impact Angie’s life as well.

Themes:
Identity and Belonging: Angie’s quest to uncover information about her father and her biracial identity is the core of the novel in that she struggles to determine who she is and to whom she belongs.
Family Secrets: The family secrets dribble through both Angie’s and Marilyn’s stories, which reveal that how the past has its way of telling on the present.
The novel deals with different manifestations of love-life: whether romantic, familial-sentimental love and sorrow and loss intermix in it. There is something fragile yet tragic about Marilyn and James’ love saga, while the emotional along with the longing expressed by Angie to reach out to her father touches the emotive core.
Race and Social Class: In the timelines of the novel, the novel addressed race issues, especially Marilyn’s interracial relation with James in the. Novel, highlighting the several pressures due to societal norms. The class also affects what lifestyle is defined for the characters in the novel.
Writing Style:
Alternating chapters through Angie’s and Marilyn’s perspectives, Dellaira craftily weaves the past into the present in ways that slowly unravel the mystery at the story’s heart. The dual narrative serves to add emotional depth in lines as readers get to witness Marilyn’s echoes in Angie’s present.

Appeal:
“In Search of Us” is a tremendous identity, family, and love tale. It will likely appeal to readers who enjoy books in contemporary young adult fiction, especially those interested in self-discovery, the intricate workings of family dynamics, and complications of interracial relationships. It’s such an emotionally deep and relatable read for not just teens but adults as well.