The messenger is a school janitor with a master's in art history who claims to be channeling "from both sides of the veil." "He" is Adam, a three-year-old who has never spoken an intelligible word. S you'll never be hurt as much by being open as you have been by remaining closed." There is no doubt that Adam-a boy who sees the world as a series of connections between people who love each other-is a tremendous gift to Beck, her family, and all who have the honor of knowing him. Yet, whether or not readers believe in Beck's experiences is ultimately a moot point. We, too, feel calming, invisible, supporting hands when she falls.
When she describes an out-of-body experience, we, too, feel ourselves transported to a pungent, noisy hawker center in Singapore. Because of her step-by-step explanation of her own progress from doubt to belief, she feels like a reliable witness, and even the most skeptical readers may begin to doubt their senses. Beck is trained as a methodical academician. Martha's pregnancy and Adam (once born) become the catalyst for tremendous life changes for the Becks.įocusing primarily on the pregnancy but floating back and forth between the present and recent and distant past, Martha Beck's well-written, down-to-earth, funny, heart-rending, and tender book transcends the cloying tone of much spiritual literature. As Martha's terribly difficult pregnancy progresses, odd coincidences and paranormal experiences begin to occur for both Martha and John, though for months they don't share them with each other. The presence of the fetus that they each, privately, believe is a familiar being named Adam is too strong.
Despite everything Martha Beck and her husband John know about themselves and their belief system, when Martha gets accidentally pregnant and the fetus is discovered to have Down's syndrome, the Becks find they cannot even consider abortion. Expecting Adam is an autobiographical tale of an academically oriented Harvard couple who conceive a baby with Down's syndrome and decide to carry him to term.
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