With All My Might is the first book written by Gabriella Naseem Akhtar van Rij, a woman born Muslim, abandoned to a Catholic orphanage in Pakistan and eventually adopted by a diplomatic Catholic family. Written in an interview style while she was volunteering during the winter Olympics in Canada.
This book proved to be interesting, I enjoy hearing the stories of those who have been adopted however this isn’t your typical happily ever after adoption story. Gabriella is very honest in her account of what it was like to be adopted before adoption was a well known entity and what it’s like to be of Pakistani/Muslim origins and adopted into a European/Catholic family. At times when she was talking about her child hood I got the feeling she blamed her adoptive family but as she grew older it seems she had let go of that and turned toward acceptance.
While I did enjoy this book, I will say there are some things that I couldn’t quite bring myself to agree with – as it is with most things we all read. She does say she believes all religions are worthy of being studied and practiced and she also states she’s not against marriage but she doesn’t feel the need to be in a marriage to be with a man. There are a couple other items but it is more of a personal preference or where your values and morals lie that will deem how you view or read this book.
Overall, I did enjoy this book – I don’t agree with everything that I read no matter what the source but that just makes me do more of the agree to disagree. As a mom who desires to one day adopt from a foreign nation – this did help me see what the adopted can feel as they grow up – thankfully there are more agencies around to help both the adoptive family and adoptees to get acclimated to both cultures and even letting the child keep their cultural heritage.
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